Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, April 21, 2013

The creation of an anti-Israel conspiracy theory

The wildly anti-Israel Veteran's Today has a scoop:

Were Israeli false-flag terror experts – maybe even some who helped pull off 9/11, the operation that Mossad operative Mike Harari bragged about – flown in to Boston to set up a shoot-out as dénouement to the Boston Marathon bombing?

At this point it’s just a hypothesis. But suspicions were aroused two days ago, when Israeli Police Chief Yohanan Danino announced that his officers had flown to Boston to “meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other authorities” to participate in the investigation of the Boston bombing. As RT reported, Danino dispatched police officers to participate in discussions that “will center on the Boston Marathon bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries.”

But wait a minute…why would American police need Israelis, or other foreigners, to investigate an American crime? And more pertinently: How did Danino know that there would be any Boston Marathon bombings for his team to investigate? According to RT, “Israeli law enforcement planned the trip before the deadly pair of bombings on Monday that has so far claimed three lives.”

When government agents pre-plan their trip to a crime scene, it means they – or their governments – had foreknowledge of the crime.

Let's go backwards through the links and see how this conspiracy theory started.

The RT article says:

The investigation into Monday’s deadly bombing at the Boston Marathon has officially gone international: law enforcement officials from Israel have been sent to the United States to assist in the probe.

Israel Police Chief Yohanan Danino says he has dispatched officials to Boston, Massachusetts, where they will meet with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and other authorities, the Times of Israel Reports.

Citing an earlier report published by the newspaper Maariv, Times of Israel writes that Danino has dispatched police officers to participate in discussions that “will center on the Boston Marathon bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries.”

The paper reports that Israeli law enforcement planned the trip before the deadly pair of bombings on Monday that has so far claimed three lives, but the discussions will now shift focus in order to see how help from abroad can expand the investigation.

OK, let's now go to the Times of Israel article:

Israel Police chief Yohanan Danino and other senior police officers left Israel late Tuesday night, heading to the US to meet with FBI officials and other law enforcement officials in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Discussions will center on the Boston bombings and deepening professional cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both countries, Maariv reported.

At least three other senior officers are accompanying the police chief, in what the paper described as the highest-ranking police delegation Israel sends overseas. The trip had been planned before the Boston blasts, but was refocused in the light of the bombings, the report said, without elaboration.

Note what TOI doesn't say: Nowhere does it say that the Israelis are going to Boston. Also, nowhere does it say that Israelis are part of the investigation. Those were RT additions, and the major parts of the conspiracy theory - planning to go to a crime scene before the crime.

What did Maariv say?

In the shadow of the attack on the Boston Marathon, the Chief of Police, Commander Yohanan Danino, the head of the Lahav 433, Commander Manny Isaac, and two other senior police officers went to the U.S. to meet with the heads of the FBI and law enforcement officials in New York and Washington.

Police say that the visit has been planned long ago, but some meetings will engage in strengthening cooperation between Israeli police and police units in the U.S. and the FBI in fighting terrorism.

My Hebrew isn't perfect, but I do not see Maariv saying that the meetings are being "refocused" because of Boston - although obviously the topic will come up. Nowhere does it say that Israeli officials are helping in the investigation, as RT added.

The New York Daily News reports on Danino's visit to New York, confirming he did not visit Boston and the trip was planned long in advance.

So the timeline of the smear is:

4/16: Israel sending top cops to the US to hold meetings in a trip planned long before Boston bombings
4/17: Israeli trip to US being refocused to also discuss Boston bombings
4/17: Israeli investigators going to Boston to help investigate bombings
4/19: Israeli trip to Boston, planned before bombings, proves Israeli involvement in the attack

The VT article goes on to accuse Israel of masterminding 9/11 - and the Haiti earthquakes!

So while VT is a fringe site, we know that the author Kevin Barrett also writes for Iran's PressTV, This meme is already starting to spread in tin-foil hat circles.

And now you can see how the haters find their material.

Ilan Pappe's dishonesty shines through

In Electronic Intifada, anti-Israel historian Ilan Pappe - who has been proven a liar and a fraud more than once - gets hot and bothered by a quote by Shimon Peres:

In a regal interview he gave the Israeli press on the eve of the state’s ” Independence Day,” Shimon Peres, the current president of Israel, said the following:

“I remember how it all began. The whole state of Israel is a millimeter of the whole Middle East. A statistical error, barren and disappointing land, swamps in the north, desert in the south, two lakes, one dead and an overrated river. No natural resource apart from malaria. There was nothing here. And we now have the best agriculture in the world? This is a miracle: a land built by people” (Maariv, 14 April 2013).

This fabricated narrative, voiced by Israel’s number one citizen and spokesman, highlights how much the historical narrative is part of the present reality. ...Peres’ denial of the native Palestinians and his reselling in 2013 of the landless people mythology exposes the cognitive dissonance in which he lives: he denies the existence of approximately twelve million people living in and near to the country to which they belong.

The entire rest of the article rails against Peres' supposed denial of the existence of Arabs in British Mandate Palestine.

Is Peres denying the existence of Arabs in Palestine before 1948?

Of course not. He was talking about natural resources, nothing else. After all, would anyone interpret Peres' statement "There was nothing" to mean that Jerusalem or Jaffa didn't exist? Isn't that what "nothing here" means - if you are a narrow-minded idiot who chooses to interpret the words without context?

This is the state of the art in Israel criticism today. A celebrated author and historian, writing in the premiere showcase for anti-Israel literature, makes stuff up - and no one in the anti-Israel community has a trace of integrity to call him on it, or to demand that EI pull the article based on a lie. There is no pushback in the "progressive" community against this transparent falsehood.

Nothing.

Because hating Israel is a religion to these fanatics, and far more important than mere honesty.

Egyptian protesters and counter-protesters - shooting each other (video)

Egypt is doomed.

Clashes broke out between Islamist protesters and unknown opponents near Cairo's High Court on Friday, leaving dozens injured.

Thousands of Islamist protesters were holding a rally before the High Court in downtown Cairo to demand the "purge of Egypt's judiciary" when confrontations erupted.

Mohamed Sultan, the head of the Egyptian Ambulance Organisation (affiliated to the health ministry), stated that the injury toll reached at least 95 while no deaths have been reported so far.

During the melee, an Ahram Online reporter saw angry Islamist protesters catching an opponent and badly beating him in Ramses Street near the High Court after cornering him against a wall.

Several online videos showed other violent assaults by Islamists on young men. Accounts on social networks claim that Islamists caught by their opponents received the same treatment.

Here are some of the Islamists shooting guns at their opponents:

And here are the opponents shooting back:

There were also Molotov cocktails in these riots.

Saturday Links

From Ian:

A Terrorist’s Dream – To have Jews as the Enemy
It must be any Arab terrorist’s dream come true that they have Jews as their enemy.

If you are a terrorist facing Israel, you can fire rockets by the thousands and finally receive a response you know will end prematurely and inconclusively. You face an Israeli enemy which, during a war, gives advance notice by flyers and phone calls to apartment residents that a specific building is being targeted, giving so called “innocent” civilians and yourselves enough time to escape with your life.

Aid Agencies in Gaza Protest New Exit Rules

About two dozen international aid agencies that operate in Gaza have suspended travel by their local employees to Israel and the West Bank to protest new exit permit requirements imposed by the Hamas-led government.
Leaders of several nongovernmental organizations said the permit requirements, announced April 4, were an effort by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, to collect information about their groups through application forms and interviews. Hamas has also sought salary information for the local employees to collect income tax, and it wants to tax vendors providing materials to internationally financed projects in Gaza, which the aid agencies oppose.

Honest Reporting: How an Arab-Israeli Politician’s Efforts Inadvertently Dispel the “Apartheid” Myth

Jamal Zahalka is a shining example of why Israel is not an “apartheid” state. On top of being an Arab-Israeli citizen, Zahalka is a member of Balad, an Arab political party which is diametrically opposed to the existence of the state of Israel.
As a Member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament), Zahalka has actively tried to undermine the legitimacy of the Jewish state, calling for sanctions against Israel and holding meetings with and standing in solidarity with terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. If a Canadian MP were to meet with, endorse, and support members of Al Qaeda, that politician would likely be censured for seditious conduct, but in Israel, Zahalka is part of the Jewish state’s vibrant liberal democracy.

Minister warns against Muslim antisemitism in the UK
A government minister has spoken out against “antisemitism in the Muslim community” in Britain.

Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, said that anti-Zionism was often a mask for anti-Jewish hatred.
“I am aware that anti-Israeli sentiment can sometimes be a cover for antisemitism. As the Community Security Trust will tell you, antisemitic attacks spiral in the UK when there is increased unrest in the Middle East.”

Guardian writer says new BBC news chief will have to "leave behind pro-Israel" views

So The Guardian, or at least its writers, believe that you can't be balanced and in favour of the Jewish state?
I knew that when James Harding was appointed BBC director of news this week, the Guardian would have something to say about it.

Nearly 80 percent of UK Jewish community sees BBC bias against Israel

Almost 80 percent of Jews in the Britain have reported that they believe the BBC is biased against Israel.
A new report published this week shows that 36 per cent of British Jews polled thought that the corporation was "heavily biased" against Israel while 43 per cent thought that it was "somewhat biased". Only three percent felt that the BBC favoured Israel and just 14 percent that its coverage was "balanced".

Eilat airport may be closed down because of missile threat

In the interim, Israeli passenger planes serving the city to be equipped with new anti-missile defense system, TV report says

Golan residents report blasts near Syria border

IDF forces reportedly looking for mortar shells possibly fired from the war-torn country; no reports of injuries

Reversing policy, US will sell Israel aerial refueling planes

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will finalize a huge arms deal with Israel during his visit starting Saturday, under which Israel will for the first time be permitted to purchase US aerial refueling planes and other ultra-sophisticated military equipment that could prove vital to any Israel strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Remembering Warsaw By Trashing Zionism

..in a curious act of revisionism, the New York Times commemorated the Ghetto Uprising today with an article that seeks to push back against this narrative and to replace it with one that downgrades the importance of Zionism in both the story of the Warsaw revolt and its place in Jewish history.

Dutch bounty hunters preyed on Jews during Holocaust, study shows

Dozens of Dutchmen preyed on Jews for cash during the Holocaust, according to a new study.
According to the research by Pinchas Bar Efrat, 82, as many as 80 bounty hunters roamed the Netherlands during the German occupation of 1940-5.

No regrets for UK Jewish academic who lost landmark anti-Zionism case

The UK is already known as a hub for the delegitimization of Israel, but the situation is about to worsen. According to Ronnie Fraser, there is likely to be an upturn in anti-Israel activity on university campuses and among trade union activists.

Hezbollah regards Syria issue as "existential"

From Now Lebanon:

Hezbollah and other major regional Shiite powers have adopted a stance that the conflict in Syria is an existential one, sources told NOW contributor Qassem Kassir.

Kassir wrote Thursday that top figures in Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Amal Movement as well as Iraqi Shiite parties believe “their defense of [the Syrian regime] is no longer limited to religious reasons and Syrian towns inhabited by Shiites on the Lebanese-Syrian border, it is rather a defense of the Resistance and the region,” although they have yet to make this position public.

Sources close to Hezbollah said that “rumors about the Shiite party’s leaders being restless regarding the fighting in Syria are not true.”

“On the contrary, with the passing of time, their belief in the dangers of what is happening in Syria and the importance of defending [Syria] is increasing because the battle there is an existential and decisive one.”

The big question for the past year has been, which would be less awful - a likely Islamist victory in Syria or Assad staying in power?

At least for the foreseeable future, I think that weakening Iran and Hezbollah by defeating Assad is more important than the downside of jihadists in charge in Syria.

But it is a tough call.

The last "Hadith of the Day" that the Boston terrorist read

The following is meaningless. But it is still a little creepy.

One of the Twitter feeds that the Boston Marathon terrorist at large, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, followed was called "Hadith of the Day" - a series of Islamic proverbs that people subscribe to.

On the morning of the day of the bombings, the Hadith that it published was:

We plan our course through different missions in life. Ya Allah, guide each step of that course and bless it with righteousness and barakah.
— Hadith of the Day (@Hadithoftheday) April 15, 2013

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

LATMA: Obama's advisor on his post-American foreign policy and suicide bomber go on strike

Terror Never Left America’s Shores

Terror did not return to America at the Boston Marathon, because terror never left.
There have been more anti-US attacks and abortive attacks (not including Iraq and Afghanistan) in the last four years than in the previous seven years after 9-11.
This is not a statistic that is widely cited at government briefings, in the main news media nor on most college campuses, because our government, media and educational elites would like to pretend that the terror problem ended with Osama Bin-Laden.

National Tragedy Perverted to Promote Jewish Conspiracy Theories

“It is disturbing that once again extremists are taking advantage of a national tragedy to promote conspiracy theories rather than letting the hard and detailed work of the investigators take its course,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “America should come together in the aftermath of terrorism. We should not allow the extremists and bigots to divide us.”
Just minutes after the attack, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists took to the Internet and blamed Jews and Israel for the bombing, according to information compiled by ADL’s Center on Extremism.

King David Era Find ‘Buried’ by Authorities for Political Reasons
Soon the area will be handed over to the PA.

According to Makor Rishon, Antiquities’ director-general Shuka Dorfman and former chief of the central front Gen. Avi Mizrahi were called in to look at the find, a year and a half ago and decided together to silence the discovery.
The question is, based on their track record, how respectful would the future owners of the area, the PA, of a site that could prove beyond doubt that it used to belong to a Jewish empire – the very empire the PA officially says never existed.

How UNRWA Steals Money from Those Who Need It Most

But an even more basic reason for abolishing UNRWA is the harm it does to the world’s most vulnerable people–real refugees like the Syrians. Were the Palestinians handled by UNHCR like all other refugees are, UNHCR would have the budgetary flexibility to temporarily divert aid from the Palestinians, who need it far less, to people who need it more, like the Syrians today. Instead, it is forced to watch helplessly as Syrian refugees go roofless and hungry while $1 billion in aid is squandered on Palestinians with homes, jobs, and all the comforts of settled life.

Bad, Deceptive, Stupid

Grasping the true nature of BDS claims and countering them with well formed arguments is a lengthy process. BDS uses false premises to mischaracterize Israel in order to justify calling for sanctions against it, while ignoring that Israel is the Middle East’s only democracy that enshrines in law and enforces fully equal rights for its 1.6 million Arab citizens who form 20 percent of the population. Israel’s open and self-critical society, with its hundreds of human rights groups, attempts to uphold the highest international standards of conduct. Furthermore, Israel has sought peace with all its neighbors, particularly with the Palestinians. In 2000 and 2008, Israel made concrete proposals for a Palestinian state that would exist alongside it in security and mutual recognition. The Palestinians rejected those offers. BDS advocates intentionally ignore these historical facts.

UC Berkeley Votes in Favor of BDS

The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) voted 11-9 to divest from companies affiliated with the IDF on Thursday, the Daily Californian reported.

Sydney University student council votes for BDS

Sydney University’s Andrew Potter said: “The vice-chancellor and the university welcome student debate and opinion but disagree with the SRC on this issue.”
Meanwhile, plans to open a Max Brenner chocolate shop at the University of New South Wales, also in Sydney, have been attacked by Students for Palestine, which launched a campaign this week against the Israeli-owned chain, The Australian newspaper reported

Irish official: Israel boycott passed without debate

Boycott was reportedly adopted without any debate or discussion. Only proposer, seconder discussed item on agenda before vote.

Nokia-Siemens puts all its new tech eggs in one basket

If you’ve ever thrown your smartphone down in frustration at how slow it is, hang in there. Nokia Siemens Networks understands where you’re coming from, and is working on ways to fix slow networks once and for all. The solutions it is implementing for its new effort — its Liquid Network architecture — are all going to be Israeli-developed.

Ghana Builds Preschools With an Israeli Touch

The MCI designation provides a framework, advice and connections but does not provide financial assistance—that is where Israel came into the picture. The head of MCI in West Africa, Abenaa Aboateng, met with MASHAV and came to the Golda Meir Training Center at Israel’s Mt. Carmel. After reviewing the program and visiting Israeli kindergartens, Aboateng invited MASHAV to partner in developing in the Kumasi Early Childhood Education project. The State of Israel agreed to participate and fund the training programs.

IDF’s Arizona Girl Receives ‘President’s Excellence Award’

Nira Lee grew up in Tempe, Arizona as a Zionist but firmly planted in the USA, until she saw the destruction following the Second Lebanon War during a visit to Israel. Now she is Lieutenant in the IDF.
After she received the President’s Citation of Excellence on Israel’s 65th Independence Day, she said, “It’s a huge honor for me to receive this award. Being a new immigrant, there are certainly times you feel you do not fit in, but the army is the epitome of how this country unites people.”

Boston suspect's interesting tweets - "Free Palestine"

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Twitter account doesn't seem to indicate too much extremism, but some of his tweets are interesting:

my bro left these christian missionaries second guessing their own religion
— Jahar (@J_tsar) August 10, 2012

I meet the most amazing people, spent the day with this Jamaican Muslim convert who shared his whole story with me, my religion is the truth
— Jahar (@J_tsar) December 31, 2012

I don't argue with fools who say islam is terrorism it's not worth a thing, let an idiot remain an idiot
— Jahar (@J_tsar) January 16, 2013

He retweeted:

I don't know of anything in this Dunya that could uplift & increase the good manners & behavior of a person the way Islam does.
— Islam (@IslamSpeaks) May 13, 2012

salat makes one strong #islam
— Jahar (@J_tsar) April 12, 2012

Retweeted:

Do you ever wonder why so many rappers and brothers who get incarcerated go Muslim?
— Foxx (@PoeticJustice07) April 29, 2012

(h/t Judge Dan)

Salafist leader urges Egypt to allow him to fire rockets at "the Jews"

Salafi Sheikh Murgan Salem is refreshingly honest as to who his enemy is.

In the wake of the Salafist rocket attack on Eilat this week, Salem urged military leaders of Egypt to allow the jihadists to fire rockets into Israel and to support them, because it is an Islamic duty.

"We see the firing of rockets as a religious duty for all who are able, it is a jihad duty in the name of Allah; God Almighty ordered all of who are able to wage jihad against them as Allah says: 'Fight those who do not believe in Allah...' - The blood is boiling in the [Egyptian] soldiers, who have waited long enough for their leaders to allow them to launch rockets at the Jews...

"I think that the biggest danger is keeping the treaty and support for Israel, the Jewish entity, a cancer extending into the body of our nation established by the atheistic United Nations - Israel is not a state worthy of respect. For more than 30 years we have been subject to servility under the Jewish usurpers."

He also called to cancel the Camp David agreements between Israel and Egypt, saying that the Egyptian government that concluded the agreement was forged by infidels who had no authority to act on behalf of Egypt.

Just another day in Egypt.

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Israel - The Happy Little Country

The Europeans prattle on about Israeli racism, and threaten to put yellow stars or some other nasty mark on Israeli goods. They ban Israeli books from their libraries in Scotland. They boycott Israeli universities, professors and students in England. In Italy they hold rallies for convicted mass murderer Marwan Barghouti at their national Senate. And in France they butcher Jewish children.
And then the likes of Catherine Ashton expect us to care what they think about us.

Sarah Honig: Another Tack: Amira, daughter of Rosa

The anti-Israel and pro-Arab line that Hass promotes appeals equally to anti-Israel forces on the international arena’s left and to rightist neo-Nazi outfits abroad. The rhetoric to which both supposed opposites resort when demonizing Israel is eerily similar. Hass delights them both.
She may pose as the embodiment of humane admonition and hector as the self-appointed voice of Israeli conscience. She may adopt the affectation of doing the moral thing in our name but the end result is immoral and indisputably at our expense.

For Palestinians, human rights begin at home

What is true for the rest of the world is also true for the Middle East and the Israeli-Arab conflict. If we want to promote peace and stability in the region, we need to pay more attention to the true benchmarks of democracy, rule of law and respect for basic human rights, and less on forming new states. To put it bluntly – creating a new repressive Islamic state in the region will do no good. So long as there is no real democratic reform in the Palestinian Authority, there will be no peace, nor will quality of life improve for the ordinary Palestinian.

Barry Rubin: Turkey’s Regime Fails Abroad; Is World Champion at Fundamental Transformation at Home

Erdogan's greatest achievement in terms of the international scene is that by his maneuvers and Obama's approval, he has made the world uninterested in the escalating repression in Turkey including ridiculous Stalinist-style show trials of dissidents. The latest event is the sentencing of an internationally famous Turkish concert pianist to ten months' imprisonment for tweets "insulting" Islam and a court decision claiming a 700-year-old church was illegally run as a state museum making possible its conversion into a mosque.
Thus, Erdogan has put together a winning combination: fake victories abroad; repression, seizing institutions, and mobilizing support through patriotism and Islam at home.

The Guardian refers to Palestinian terrorist Samer Issawi as a “political prisoner”.

Issawi – who was freed by Israel in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange, but recently re-arrested for violating his release conditions - was originally sentenced to 26 years in prison for his involvement in a series of violent terror attacks, including indiscriminately firing an assault rifle at public buses, and manufacturing and distributing pipe bombs used in attacks on Israeli civilians.
A “political prisoner” is a person ‘imprisoned for their political beliefs or actions’.
No reasonable person can characterize Issawi’s crimes in a manner which fits that definition.
It is indeed that simple.

PA Arabs in Jerusalem to be 'Gifted' Israeli Citizenship
PA Arabs living in several Jerusalem neighborhoods on the Israeli side of the security fence are to be “gifted” with Israeli citizenship

According to the State Attorney, the facts of their residence and work situation would be sufficient to grant them rights identical to those of Israeli citizens in nearly every legal situation. As such, granting them citizenship would confer upon them not only the rights, but also the obligations, of Israeli citizenship, the State Attorney said.

Media Mum on Hamas's Razing Roman Temple

As Hamas destroys antiquities, Israeli media looks the other way.

France, UK say they have proof of use of chemical weapons by Assad forces

Britain and France have told the secretary-general they have reliable evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons near Aleppo, in Homs and possibly in Damascus, UN diplomats and officials say.

UN Watch: Syria accuses Israel of treating its wounded victims, in UN Security Council debate

And now Israel is blamed for treating the injured

Germans in Bremen, Stuttgart lash out at Israelis

The Israeli couple came to visit a “stumbling stone” memorial for five members of their family who were murdered by Nazis, the Stuttgarter Zeitung reported on Tuesday.
A dispute over the correct subway tickets and registration of the tickets with the transportation authorities resulted in one of the officials apparently praising the murder of the family’s members in the Holocaust.

Palestinians compete to become ‘President’ on new reality show

A cross between “The Apprentice” and “American Idol,” “The President” pits young Palestinians against one another in a battle for the coveted title of President of Palestine. Though the victor of course will not actually take the presidency, the winner will receive an as-yet-unannounced prize.

Abbas says unity coming "soon"

Any bets as to whether "soon" will be closer to one week, one month or one millennium?

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas pledged to launch talks “in the near future” on forming a national unity cabinet, following the resignation of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Abbas made the remarks late Thursday at a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which was attended by Fayyad.

“We will hold consultations in the near future to form a government,” said Abbas, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

The president has been pressed by members of his Fatah party to form a national unity government that would guarantee Palestinian national reconciliation with the rival Hamas movement.

Fayyad, who resigned on Saturday, was a bone of contention between Fatah, which dominates the West Bank, and the Islamist Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip.

Hamas never recognized Fayyad's authority, continuing instead to recognize its own premier, Ismail Haniya.

“The president must hold consultations with Palestinian movements to form a national unity government and set a date for elections,” Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah leader, told official Voice of Palestine radio on Monday.

The statement also called for the formation “as soon as possible of a national unity government comprising independent figures” in line with a 2011 reconciliation pact.

Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Cairo in 2011, pledging to set up an interim consensus government of independents that would pave the way for legislative and presidential elections within 12 months.

But implementation of the accord has stalled over the make-up of the interim government.

The reason I haven't been posting any "unity" stories is because, like this one, they are fantasy. Even if something is cobbled together it wouldn't last long. Hamas isn't giving up its political power and military infrastructure in Gaza, and that is pretty much the deal-breaker there.

So the Boston terrorists were Muslim. Is anyone shocked?

Many people were fervently hoping that the Boston Marathon terrorists were not Muslim. Some actually hoped they would be white Americans, apparently afraid that if they were Muslim, it would stoke Islamophobia in America.

Just a reminder: A Gallup survey done a few years back, that was heavily spun to make it look like the vast majority of Muslims are moderate, in fact showed that 36.6% of Muslims worldwide thought that the 9/11 terror attacks were partially or wholly justified.

Which comes out to nearly half a billion Muslims who have no problem with terrorism against innocents.

Obviously, only a small percentage of those would actually perform terror acts. But that is a huge pool of potential jihadists. In fact, there are more Muslims who find justification for terror then there are people in South America.

Plus Canada.

Plus Australia.

That is a lot of people who want to cause harm to the West.

In this case, apparently, they were motivated enough to act on their jihadist terrorist indoctrination.

Naysayers like to say that most terror attacks on American soil since 9/11 were not performed by Muslims. David Sirota, linked to above, says that "FBI data show fewer terrorist plots involving Muslims than terrorist plots involving non-Muslims," although if you follow his links you see that the FBI said no such thing and the statistics come from the Muslim Public Affairs Council. But even if the numbers are accurate (and a glance at that report shows some spinning), that does not negate the huge number of Muslims who hate America, period. Most do not have easy access to the nation they hate so nothing will be done - but some will be motivated. Identifying that threat and being aware of it is not something to be ashamed of.

But, the argument goes, if Muslims are proven to have been behind the attack, then the US might decide to bomb a Muslim country in response. Um, why - because it happened after 9/11? Can you really generalize from that? Indeed, are people in Chechnya now building bomb shelters in fear that the US is going to attack?

These analysts think it is better policy for Americans to close their eyes to the dangers rather than be aware of them.

No one serious is saying that Muslims should be discriminated against in the US. But believing in radical interpretations of Islam is a factor in finding potential terror threats, as is an Internet history of researching explosives or of buying unusual amounts of fertilizer. The existence of non-Muslim terrorists doesn't mean that US law enforcement officials should discard anything they find that indicates radical Islam - it means that they need to add another category of potential murderers and treat people in any high risk radical demographic the same way.

The fact that these terrorists were Muslim is not something to celebrate. But it does prove that closing our eyes to the fact that hundreds of millions of people want us dead is not smart policy. Closing our eyes and hoping that the problem isn't with the millions of radical Muslims who want us dead is not very bright.

Pravda: Israel injecting PalArab prisoners with "viruses" before release

The latest blood libel, from Pravda:

A Palestinian released from Israeli jails, Rania Saqa, has brought to light that the Israeli regime injected detainees that are out of prisons with dangerous viruses.

Noting that Palestinian prisoners suffer from serious and chronic diseases such as bladder cancer and liver disorders, Rania has revealed that the Tel Aviv regime injects prisoners with dangerous viruses before releasing them.

The released prisoner has asked the many institutions and the international community to examine them carefully.

Most former inmates die after being released from Israeli jails.

Saqa Rania criticized the neglect of the Palestinian state to the situation in which the prisoners and their families find themselves and added that "the prisoners are subjected to the most cruel tortures."

A suspiciously large number of Palestinian prisoners are suffering from incurable diseases or permanent disabilities as a result of the critical situation in prisons that they suffer at the hands of Israeli regime.

Recently, the International Solidarity for Human Rights Institute warned that the Israeli regime uses and abuses Palestinian prisoners to test their new drugs, and this contradicts international medical and moral principles.

Currently, about 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, including women and children, are crowded in the jails of the regime in Tel Aviv. Most have not been tried and some have no formal charge against them, a strategy that the Israeli regime called "administrative detention."

As usual, not the slightest shred of evidence for sensationalist accusations. "Most former inmates die"? Well, maybe within 50 years they do.

El Saqa seems to be really unstable. She was interviewed in Hamas' Felesteen a couple of months ago. She

had been jailed for attempting to stab an Israeli officer at the Qalandiya checkpoint. Rania complained about her many illnesses after leaving prison including breast cancer, bladder cancer, hepatitis B, and multiple broken bones. She claims that she has been trying to get both the PA and Hamas to pay her medical bills but they have refused, and she tried to immolate herself to gain attention. She said that first she had medical negligence in Israeli prison, and then medical negligence by the PA and Hamas when she left.

In that article, she said nothing about being injected with viruses.

Similarly, in another interview for Al Quds, she said she needs cash to be treated in Italy but said nothing about Israel giving her these diseases.

Then, a few days ago, she suddenly announced she has money to travel to Italy for treatment, but not enough for living expenses. By then, her story about Israel injecting prisoners was starting to gel.

El Saqa has grasped the basic concept that if you want to get international media coverage - and money - blaming the PA is not going to get you anywhere. You have to blame Israel.

And, as we see, it works. Expect to see her absurd charges repeated, amplified and exaggerated in coming days.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv and O)

Palestinian Arab "leaders" again reject solving "refugee" issue

I had missed this story from last week. From the anti-Israel Middle East Monitor:

Israel's President Shimon Peres has said that Canada could play a significant role in the peace process, especially with regards to the Palestinian refugee issue. Mr Peres made his remarks after meeting Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird in Tel Aviv.

Ain Hilweh "refugee"camp - really, prison - in Lebanon

Peres pointed out that Canada has shown willingness in the past to absorb about 120,000 Palestinian refugees and grant them full Canadian citizenship so that they can live there forever. According to Peres this is an important offer as it would "save" the refugees from the "terrible suffering" they face in the refugee camps. As far as the Israeli president is concerned, "Instead of returning to what is now Israel, they can choose between compensation and migration to a country like Canada or moving within the borders of an independent state of Palestine."

Baird did not address the refugee issue openly, but Israeli sources confirmed that following Canada's offer to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in 2010 to allow Palestinians to migrate to the North American country, around 5,000 Palestinians holding travel documents issued by the UN agency had made the move. This was done ostensibly to reunite Palestinian families in the diaspora.

Then comes the blatant lies:

Commentators have warned that this does not make the refugee issue disappear; it merely switches it to another country as the Palestinians' right to return to their land is enshrined in international law. "Canada's offer would simply get Israel off the hook," said MEMO's senior editor Ibrahim Hewitt. "If Peres is serious about doing something to save refugees from such terrible conditions in the refugee camps, why doesn't he implement UN Resolution 194? After all, allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their land was one of the conditions of Israel's membership of the UN which has never been fulfilled."

There is no "right to return," in international law or otherwise, and that goes doubly so for descendants of refugees. UNGA 194 is not international law and its other paragraphs have been roundly ignored for over six decades.

The idea that Israel's admission to the UN was conditional on solving the refugee problem is another lie that Palestinian Arab leaders like to throw around.

Another major PalArab group, of course, rejects the idea that Palestinian Arabs should move out of camps and become full functioning citizens of a Western country:

Hamas movement renewed its affirmation that the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland from where they were forcibly evicted is a sacred right.

It said in a press release on Friday that no power on Earth could revoke that right, adding that the Palestinians were forced to live in other countries on temporary basis and would never relinquish the right of return.

Hamas was responding to statements attributed to Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird that his country was ready to absorb 120,000 Palestinian refugees where they would be granted Canadian citizenship and live there forever.

Hamas said that it absolutely rejects all solutions tabled by Israel and other international parties to dissolve the Palestinian refugees’ rights and asks all international parties to stop such “suspicious attempts” that only serve Israel and its schemes and deepen the Palestinian people’s suffering.

This has been true for years, and was especially evident when Western nations offered to relocate homeless Iraqis of Palestinian origin who were real refugees - and Arab leaders denounced the attempts to help these people out.

Naturally, the idea of making these people citizens in the Arab countries they were born in - which really does have a basis in international agreements - is utterly rejected by the Arab states as well as the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas.

So who cares about the descendants of Arab refugees from Palestine? Certainly not the Arabs.

(h/t YM)

New leader of dying Egyptian community is an anti-Zionist

On Thursday, Carmen Weinstein, the leader of the tiny remainder of a Jewish community in Egypt was buried in the dilapidated and damaged Jewish cemetery in Cairo:

After the service, Weinstein was buried in the Bassatine Jewish cemetery in a Cairo suburb. Her relatives said she wished to be buried alongside her parents, but sewage had flooded that part of the graveyard.

"Look at the humiliation and the filth in which we will be buried," said Haroun.

"But what to do? The area around should be developed, its residents must be allowed a decent life, so they preserve their surroundings," she said of the neighbouring slums.

Roger Bilboul, who came from France for the funeral, said he found the state of the graveyard "sad." "There was a metal door, it was stolen."

There are few gravestones left amid the rubbish. Most of the marble slabs have been stolen too.

The Haroun quoted is the new leader, Magda Haroun.

Egypt's small Jewish community will refuse Israeli offers of financial help for the

renovation of Egypt's ancient Jewish synagogues, Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website reported on Tuesday.

Magda Haroun, the new leader of Egypt's Jewish community, told Al-Ahram that she plans to contact UN heritage organisation UNESCO if she failed to find adequate funds for synagogue renovation.

Haroun stressed that Egypt's Jewish monuments belonged to Egypt's historical heritage, which extends over a very long period.

"Jewish temples are like the pyramids and the Sphinx," she said. "They are a part of Egypt's history that cannot be ignored."

"The sons of this community are Egyptians. We will live forever in Egypt because religion is for God and the nation is for everybody," Haroun said.

HuffPo notes that her father was an anti-Zionist:

Haroun said she considered herself Egyptian before Jewish, born and raised in the country.

Her father Chehata Haroun was a prominent Egyptian nationalist, one of the founders of the leftist Al Tagammu Party. He was known for his anti-Zionist politics and his defense of Egyptian Jews against accusations of having greater loyalty to Israel than to Egypt, at the peak of the Mideast wars.

Arabic media notes that her father actually volunteered to fight for Egypt in the Six Day War and wrote a famous letter asking to do so, and Magda says she wishes she could have joined him in fighting Israel (she was 13 at the time.) Chehata was also against the Camp David agreement to make peace with Israel.

When he died in 2001, his family refused to allow an Israeli rabbi to officiate at the funeral, and a rabbi from France was brought in instead.

Given this, it does not appear that Magda Haroun's anti-Zionism is an act.