Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, May 17, 2013

Arab suggests helping Palestinians; other Arabs attack him

There was an educational exchange on Twitter recently that encapsulates the real problem in the Middle East.

Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), tweeted:

Arab govts can help Palestinians in their midst by granting citizenship. How much longer will this great people languish in refugee camps?
— Ed Husain (@Ed_Husain) May 15, 2013

Lebanese journalist Alex Rowell responded:

.@ed_husain This ignores fact that many if not most refugees would refuse the offer if it meant giving up right of return
— Alex Rowell (@disgraceofgod) May 15, 2013

Besides the fact that experience in Lebanon itself shows this to be false, Husain answers:

Ed Husain ‏@Ed_Husain15 May

@disgraceofgod So don't make it conditional. Give them hope of eventual "dual citizenship" -- in the meantime, build up their lives again.

Details
Alex Rowell ‏@disgraceofgod15 May

.@Ed_Husain Possible. But in any case they oughtn't have to jump through such hoops when Israel is obliged by law to let them return

Details

Again, Rowell is wrong; there is no international law obliging Israel to allow Palestinian Arabs who fled in 1948 and their descendants to return.

One person responded to Rowell's earlier false claim that Palestinian Arabs would refuse citizenship:

TheNatSecRoundtable ‏@nsroundtable15 May

@ziadachkar @disgraceofgod @Ed_Husain Once agn, Pals missing oppty 2 achieve somthg: Rejecting ctiznshp for somethg they'll never get.
Details
Alex Rowell ‏@disgraceofgod15 May

@nsroundtable @ziadachkar @Ed_Husain It's a question of principle. You might see things their way yourself if you were a refugee.

Given how eager Palestinian Arabs have been to embrace citizenship in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, Rowell is justifying his own desire to discriminate against them. Palestinian Arabs may tell journalists how steadfast they are in these "principles" but their actions tell a very different story.

Another subthread that is revealing, as an Egyptian responds to Husain:

.@ed_husain I completely disagree. This renders right of return null and void.
— مو Mo (@MohHKamel) May 15, 2013

Ed Husain ‏@Ed_Husain15 May

@MohHKamel We agree to disagree, my friend. This helps give Palestinians a life today, not jam tomorrow. Dual citizenship also an option.
Details

Banakee ‏@Banakee15 May

@Ed_Husain @mohhkamel no pah-lease. We can barely stand them now.

Details

مو Mo ‏@MohHKamel15 May

.@Ed_Husain The Palestenian can have a life without citizenship. Here in Egypt they do. If they have citizenship, what's their plight?

Details

murat s. erguvan ‏@muratserguvan15 May

@MohHKamel @Ed_Husain why should they be lower than Egyptians? Why can't they have the right to vote and take part in social life?

Details

مو Mo ‏@MohHKamel16 May

@muratserguvan @Ed_Husain Egyptians themselves r not that eager abt their right 2 vote. Again, if they have citizenship,what's their plight?

You see? Their plight is what must be kept alive at all costs! Alleviating their plight by treating them as human beings is considered self-evidently undesirable!

This isn't the first time we've seen this depraved Arab logic to keep Palestinian Arabs in misery, but it shows that little has changed over the decades.

(h/t Elias)

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Latma: Channel 10's amazing scoop

Video: Jewish Girl Gets in the Face of Nakba Protesters

A young Jewish woman, Dovrat Malul, was driving through Yafo (Jaffa) Wednesday when she encountered a protest against Israel's establishment, on what Arabs call "Nakba Day."
Her response was to put a new song by Eyal Golan – simply called "Israel" – on her car stereo, and pump up the volume.

Canada PM slams world leaders for not supporting Israel

Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper expressed dismay Thursday at the growing lack of support for Israel across the world and criticized international leaders for failing to back the Jewish state.
“There’s nothing more shortsighted in Western capitals in our time than the softening of support we’ve seen for Israel around the globe,” he said, calling the country “the one stable, democratic ally in this part of the world.”

U of Toronto professor claims Canadian Jews support Stephen Harper to maintain their place in "the racial order"

The name Sheryl Nestel may sound familiar. She is an academic, but if you recognize her name, it's not for any noteworthy academic accomplishment. Nestel is a teacher at OISE who was at the center of a controversy at the end of 2010, when a thesis of which she was the academic adviser was denounced by a provincial Minister and others in the Ontario legislature for being anti-Semitic.

Scottish Universities Hotbeds of Anti-Jewish Sentiment

The greatest problem to tackling anti-Jewish incitement is the denial that there is any such problem. The facts, as we have seen, tell a rather different story.

Chelsea FC calls in police over abuse of Israeli player

Managers of an English soccer club contacted police to investigate online anti-Semitic abuse of an Israeli player.
After Yossi Benayoun revealed last week of the abuse on Twitter, the Chelsea Football Club contacted police, The Guardian daily reported.

Bulgarian 'Ataka' Party Follows Neo-Nazi Global Trends

A Bulgarian far-right party has emerged victorious following the country’s parliamentary elections last Sunday, securing 7% of the popular vote.

Woman becomes Ireland’s first Righteous among Nations

A non-Jewish woman from Cork who risked her life to save Jewish children from the Nazis has become Ireland’s first Righteous among the Nations.
Mary Elms, who died in 2002, helped “a large number of Jewish children” escape the Rivesaltes detention camp in France in August-September of 1942, according to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial authority in Israel.

Polish couple posthumous ‘Righteous Gentiles’

Ludwika and Zygmunt Szostak, an elderly Polish couple who hid and protected a Jewish mother and her young daughter from the Nazis during World War II, were posthumously honored as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem on Monday.

Tel Aviv to be the world’s first ‘digitalized’ city

If you’re planning a beach day in Tel Aviv this coming summer, bring your laptop along – the wifi will be free for the taking. It’s part of what Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai is portraying as “a digital revolution” that the Big Orange will be undergoing in the coming months.

Israelis developing ‘Google Glass’ for the blind

About one in 4,000 people in the United States suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disease of the retina that causes light-sensing cells to degenerate and eventually leads to vision impairment. Symptoms might start as night blindness.

Bar-Ilan University Program Improves Lives of Children of AIDS Patients

The program, developed by Israel Prize-winning Prof. Pnina Klein, Director of Bar-Ilan University's Edward I. and Fannie Baker Center for the Study of Development Disorders in Infants and Young Children, is based on a study funded by the National Institute of Health, conducted in Uganda, where about one million children have lost at least one parent to AIDS.

French Company Continues to Invest in Israeli Mobile Industry

Golan Telecom’s co-owner is wealthy French businessman Niel Xavier, who also said that he strongly believes in the Israeli economy and that’s why he chose to invest in the Jewish State.
“I love Israel very much, it’s a very dynamic country,” he said. “There are many entrepreneurs that open companies here. Young people with much motivation and a hunger for success. I myself invested in a number of Israeli start-ups and I still have the will to invest here because this is a country which wants to bring a change.”

Ebay to Set Up Start-Up Incubator in Israel

International online retail giant eBay is setting up a startup incubator in Israel. The incubator will focus on startups dealing with ecommerce, social networks and big data, and will be located at eBay’s Israeli headquarters in Netanya.

Israel Daily Picture: Introducing the "Cigarbox Collection"

The antique wood cigarbox was beautifully crafted, bound like a book and entitled "Gourmet's Delight" and "Grown in California." Opening the box in Efrat, Israel, I discovered it was filled with a stack of pictures from Palestine 90-100 years ago.

"Down with Jews" chanted in Egypt

Today, protesters thronged to Simon Bolivar Square in Cairo.

During speeches by Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen after prayers at the nearby Omar Makram mosque, and from politician and professor Gamal Zahran, the crowd shouted "Down with Israel!", "Down with Jews!" and "Khybar, Khybar, o Jews," a threat to annihilate all Jews.

Just another day of Egyptian incitement of genocide against Jews. Nothing to worry about, and certainly nothing that concerns Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International.

From BBC:

Egyptian police have sealed off the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in protest at the
abduction of seven security personnel in Sinai.

Reports say police locked the gates and placed barbed wire at the entrance.

Rafah is the only regular exit from Gaza for 1.6m Palestinians living there. Other crossings into Israel are allowed only in exceptional cases.

The three policemen and four soldiers were captured while travelling in the peninsula, east of El Arish.

Four of the men worked at the Rafah crossing, reports said.

An Egyptian security official said the Rafah crossing will remain closed until the group is released, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The Palestinian Maan news agency said Gaza's Interior Ministry declared a state of alert along its border with Egypt and large numbers of Egyptian soldiers have been in the area.

The BBC's Rushdie Abu Alouf, who is among some 150 Palestinians stuck on the Egyptian side, says people including the sick and elderly have been sitting on the ground under the heat of the sun since early morning waiting to cross.

He says there is a long queue of people in front of an Egyptian tank which has closed the road outside the Egyptian gate of the crossing.

One of them, 72-year-old Abu Mohammed, called for the captives' release, saying: "We have to pay the price of an internal Egyptian problem. We did not kidnap the solders."

I cannot find a single call for an emergency session at the UN.

Nor any criticism from the Arab world.

Nor any criticism from any Gaza groups.

Nor any condemnations from "human rights" organizations.

Funny, isn't it?

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

UNRWA rejects PMW report exposing map erasing Israel

Earlier this week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, posed with a map that erases the State of Israel and presents all of it as "Palestine," at an UNRWA event in Lebanon.
These pictures were broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV and on the Palestinian news site pn-news net, corroborating PMW's report.
UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness, responding on UNRWA's website, rejected PMW's report. He claimed that the map in question was not intended to reflect the present, but reflected the period before Israel was established

UPDATE (EoZ): Palestinian Media Watch disputes UNRWA's claims:

UNRWA spokesperson Gunness' justification that the map "depict[s] a pre-1948 map" is baseless, as the map includes the PLO-PA flag and not a British flag. That exact map erasing Israel, especially when accompanied by the PA flag, is one of the many ways the PA expresses its rejection of Israel's existence and right to exist.
In addition, Gunness' statement that the UNRWA official "stood next to a map which does not show Israel" is also misleading, as it indicates a passive non-involvement. In fact, the UNRWA official is shown holding the map and the map was the central focus of the picture.

Countering the Global Media Assault on Israel

Organized by Truth be Told (TbT), a new grassroots organization committed to proactively articulating Israel’s narrative to the outside world, the evening commenced with five Ethiopian-Israeli students from the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, who reported on their successful mission to Cape Town in March during Israel Apartheid Week.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah's Drive Against "Normalization"

The Fatah activists who are threatening Palestinian teenagers for talking to Israelis and playing football with them are the same people who claim, at least in public, that they support the peace process with Israel. But how can there ever be a peace process when anyone who meets with an Israeli is immediately denounced as a traitor? It is worth noting that most of these denunciations are coming form the "moderate" Fatah, and not from Hamas.

Congressmen urge Abbas to fire terrorist glorifier

A bipartisan group of congressmen condemned comments made by a Palestinian Fatah official in support of the murderer of an Israeli father of five.
The letter sent to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday strongly condemned Fatah’s Sultan Abu Al-Einein following his “open support for the murderer of Evyatar Borovsky,” and called for him to be removed from office.

‘Yasser Arafat Street’ – Soon in Israel?

City officials in Sakhnin are planning to name a street for deceased Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, “a mass murderer and terrorist,” she said. A second street is to be named for Gamel Abdel Nasser, “The Egyptian President who took a hawkish stance against Israel, called to destroy it, closed the Suez Canal and began the Six Day War.”

Article Alleges Hamas Money Laundering

Hamas has several business fronts operating in Saudi Arabia and Sudan which launder money for the terrorist group, the Arab News claimed in a report Wednesday.
The report claims "high-level Gulf sources" confirmed a previous story in Kuwait's al Seyassah about the illicit activity. The Gulf Cooperation Council is expected "to put an end to the illegitimate financial activity Hamas is carrying out, without excluding these authorities arresting and prosecuting the movement's leadership cadres," an IPT translation of the Arab News report said.

BBC’s Davies describes new Golan fence as ‘controversial’

What exactly Davies thinks is “spectacular” or “controversial” about replacing a forty year-old rusty fence with a new one in light of the appearance of armed Al Qaeda-affiliated groups on its other side is – to this writer at least – something of a mystery.

Media industry recognises BBC Gaza correspondent’s creativity

“Creativity” is certainly one way of describing the passing off a photograph taken in Syria as having been shot in Gaza. Even more “creative” and “outstanding” was Donnison’s portrayal of the death of the child of a BBC colleague as the result of Israeli actions without any proof of that assertion and when in fact the tragic incident was later shown to have been caused by a terrorist missile fired from inside Gaza itself.

Beyond Hezbollah: Proscribe Iran's Revolutionary Guard

Even Brussels, it seems, could not continue to ignore the facts. The final straws were Bulgaria’s sensible conclusion on the Burgas bus bombing and the Cypriot trial of a confessed Hezbollah operative nabbed before he could do any explosive damage. In parallel with this compromise proscription of Hezbollah, the EU must now turn its guns on Hezbollah’s biggest material supporters, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) and similarly condemn it as a terrorist organisation.

Iran recruits online for militants to fight Israel

Will the West install a political framework which secures peace and development in Syria, or will its people continue to suffer, much to the benefit of Iran's paranoid leadership?

Erdoğan to Bring Father of Flotilla Participant to White House

It is actually quite amazing: Erdoğan has endorsed an Al Qaeda financier, embraced not only Hamas but the most militant faction within that terrorist organization, defended the Sudanese leader against charges of genocide, and has been the largest leak in multilateral efforts to sanction Iran. And yet, Obama will not only welcome him to the White House with the highest honors, but help fulfill the Turkish premier’s blatant desire to use the White House as the backdrop to follow through on his pledge to bash Israel at every opportunity.

'Marmara victims' ICC referral an abuse of process'

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the preliminary investigation will determine whether the ICC has jurisdiction over the case, and – if it does – whether it has already been heard by other competent legal bodies.

Egyptian police shut the door on Gaza after abductions

Egyptian police have shut the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza in protest at the abduction of their colleagues earlier this week

Egypt: Terrorists Planned to Bomb Cairo Embassies

Terrorists arrested in Egypt over the weekend were planning to attack the U.S. and French embassies, officials said.

Russia sends at least 12 warships to Syria

Deployment presumably a warning to Israeli and Western officials regarding military intervention against Assad

Russian Official: Missile Systems Sale ‘A Message to America’

Russia’s decision to send S-300 missile systems to Syria is, in part, a message to the United States, according to the head of the Russian parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov.

Poland's ban on religious slaughter hurting its economy

From AP:

Until January, slaughterhouses across Poland — a deeply Catholic nation — were the unlikely venues for the Islamic and Jewish slaughter of animals, which in both religions involves a swift cut to the throat of a conscious animal and death by bleeding.

Millions of euros were being made exporting the halal and kosher meat to countries like Egypt, Iran and Israel, as well as to Muslim and Jewish markets inside Europe.

In a victory for a growing animal rights movement, activists succeeded in getting a ban on such religious slaughter. But with economic decline deepening and exports seen as a possible salvation, the government faces pressure to get the practice reinstated legally — and is scrambling to do so.

Though Poland's own cuisine is heavy in pork, a meat banned by Jewish and Islamic laws, the country has cut out this niche business for itself in one example of the economic savvy Poland has shown since joining the European Union in 2004. Kosher and halal meat exports have grown between 20 and 30 percent per year in recent years as the largely agricultural country has capitalized on its low labor costs and a reputation for healthy farm animals.
...
The kosher and halal business had boomed until January, when the ban took effect following a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal. Though the actual slaughter was carried out by specially trained Muslim and Jewish officials, the industry also created thousands of supporting jobs for others.

Animal rights activists argue that killing animals without stunning them first causes unnecessary suffering to the animals. Jewish and Muslim leaders strongly disagree, and insist that their method is actually more humane, in part became it causes the animals to lose consciousness very fast. They argue that standard industrial slaughter involves pre-stunning that is sometimes not effective, leading to even greater suffering.

Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, says Jewish tradition has always been concerned with the welfare of animals, noting, for instance, that it bans hunting and any senseless suffering.

"For close to 3,000 years, Jewish slaughter practices have been followed that minimize pain to the animal," Schudrich said.

Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, the top Muslim leader in Poland...says there is a degree of unfairness in banning Jewish and Islamic slaughter when so many Polish Catholics follow a similar practice themselves at Christmas, when carp are slaughtered in homes across the nation without any pre-stunning.

I found a description of this central European Catholic practice:

Chef Václav Fríč, who specializes in traditional Czech cooking, has this advice. "To kill it, you first have to hit it hard in the head, then I cut the gills and the tail so the fish stops flapping about," he says.

Can anyone imagine that the Polish would pass a law against that tradition?

I recently discovered that the Swiss law that bans ritual slaughter was widely recognized at the time of its passing, in 1894, to be the result of an antisemitic campaign:

In France an outbreak of hostility to Israelites in January, 1893, was led by the Marquisde Mores, in connection with the Panama Canal scandals. He charged them with corrupting French honesty and despising principles of honor. The police were required to disperse his disorderly assemblies. The same year, in Switzerland, the Anti-Semites, chiefly Protestants, carried a law prohibiting as cruel the Jewish method of slaughtering animals for food. In Rumania it was enacted that, from the opening of 1893, Jewish children should be excluded from state schools, and in some districts Jewish families, resident therein for generations, were forcibly expelled.

In fact, the Committee of the Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals urged Swiss citizens to vote against a ban on kosher slaughter in a referendum partly due to its antisemitic origins:

Dear fellow-citizens,—You will have to pronounce upon the law which has been requested concerning the way of slaughtering animals intended for food.

This law, which specially aims at our Hebrew fellow citizens, may, by its nature, seriously damage our Federal Constitution, which grants the liberty of worship.

The Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals recommends you to vote:

NO.

1st. Because the Society thinks that this law has not so much in view the protection due to animals, as the wish of making an anti-Semitic manifestation, and that it would be a first step towards religious persecution.

2nd. Because there has existed in Geneva, since 1886, a method of slaughtering called mitigated, proposed by our Society, with a humane purpose, accepted by the Great Council and approved by the Chief Rabbi, a method which reconciles what is due to religious freedom with what is duo to the protection of animals.

The law submitted to your vote is also bad as far as our commerce is concerned; our commerce has already suffered heavily. If the law is passed, what will happen? Our Hebrew fellow-citizens will import their meat from the neighbouring countries, who, more liberal than we are, will be the only ones to benefit by their tolerance.

Dear fellow-citizens,—For these motives, and in the name of liberty, justice, and equitv, we recommend you to vote: '"'NO.

Long live Geneva! Long live the Confederation!

Signed.

The Committee of the Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals.
The Secretary General, E. De Bude.
The President, J. Cuenoud.
The Vice-President, J. L'huillier.

Plus ça change...

See also this post from 2010.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

16 Palestinian Arabs, 3 with terror ties, charged in US smuggling ring

From New York Daily News:

Federal authorities Thursday scrambled to find millions of dollars in profits a smuggling ring that
sold cheap cigarettes to bodegas across New York may have used to fund terrorism in the Middle East.

Three of those charged in the sophisticated conspiracy were linked to known terrorists, including Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip and has vowed to wipe Israel off the map, officials said.

Investigators in the case, dubbed Operation Tobacco Road, have so far found evidence the group pocketed $22 million in profits, of which authorities have found only $7.8 million in cash and bank accounts.

“While it hasn’t been established yet where the illicit proceeds ended up, we’re concerned because similar schemes have been used in the past to help fund terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

All 16 of those charged are Palestinian and all but two were living illegally in the U.S. One managed to flee to Jordan before the arrests late Wednesday.

Kelly said the group included several “individuals on our radar with links to known terrorists,” starting with Mohannad Seif, 39, a cigarette reseller from Brooklyn.

Kelly said Seif lived in the same three-story walkup with the personal secretary of Hamas’ main fund-raiser in the U.S., Mousa Abu Marzouk, who was deported from the U.S. in 1997. Marzouk continues to raise money for Hamas in Egypt.

The NYPD also linked Muaffaq Askar, 46, a reseller in Brooklyn, to the Arab gunman who shot up a van full of yeshiva students on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1994. The gunman, Rashid Baz, killed 16-year-old passenger Ari Halberstam.

At the time, Baz claimed it was a case of road rage, but the incident has since been recategorized as a terrorist hit. On Thursday, Kelly said the Halberstam murder was “still open.”

He revealed Askar was a “confidant” of Baz who considered Askar his “Palestinian uncle.”

Defendant Youssef Odeh, 52, of Staten Island, had financial ties to the imprisoned blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in a 1993 plot to blow up New York landmarks, Kelly said.

Hamas prison filled with women who had sex outside marriage

From Al Monitor:

At Gaza’s only all-female prison located in the central city, dozens of detained women from across the coastal enclave remain under intense security, irrespective of the crime.

For many people in Gaza, crimes committed by women are rarely heard of due to the conservative nature of Gazan society. Families of female convicts usually don’t disclose their whereabouts, and even lie about it.

The head of the prison, Jazya Abu Mousa, said that this year has witnessed the largest number of female prisoners since she began working there in 2007.

“The number changes from time to time as most of the prisoners here are detained and not sentenced,” Abu Mousa said.

Criminals in the prison are divided into three categories: thieves, security convicts of crimes often related to cooperating with the Israeli occupation and "moral" convicts, which includes prostitution or sexual relations without marriage. This final category holds the largest number of prisoners.

But don't worry - they are being rehabilitated:

The prison head said she is proud of most of the prisoners, as she senses a willingness among them to change. The prison administration focuses on raising religious awareness among the prisoners so they won’t return to crime after their release, said Abu Moussa.

“Besides giving them traditional training like handicrafts and embroidery, Islamic lectures are the main focus,” she explained to Al-Monitor.

(h/t Emet)

Syrian Palestinian group claims rocket fire to Israel (video)

From Ma'an:

The Abdul Qader al-Husseini brigades on Thursday claimed responsibility for an attack from Syria on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The military wing of the Free Palestine Movement said it had received permission from Syria to launch the attack, following recent Israeli attacks on Syria.

The brigades said in a statement that militants fired projectiles at dawn on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the Nakba -- or catastrophe -- of Israel's founding in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced or fled from their homes.

"We are avenging all our martyrs that we lost in our war with the Zionist enemy," the brigades said in a statement.

The group posted a video online showing what it says is footage of the attack.

Israel's military said several rockets fired from Syria landed in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday.

"Around 6 a.m. several rockets landed in the Hermon area on the Syria-Israel border," an Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma'an.

"As a result, the site has been closed to visitors and Israel has registered a complaint with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force. The incident is most likely related to the internal conflict," she added.

JPost says that a couple of mortars landed.

UNRWA quietly admits Jordanians sexually abuse Palestinian children

UNRWA published a booklet talking about how your sizable donations to that agency can help "Palestine refugees."

Here is one of their suggestions:

$318,000 rehabilitates one school and provide its students with a safe learning environment

UNRWA aims to ensure that education services meet national and international standards and provide Palestine refugee children with a safe learning environment. The rehabilitation of schools premises, built in the 1960’s, is a top priority for UNRWA in Jordan.

Current safety hazards are weakened structures due to dilapidated columns, risk of falling debris, loose plaster in the ceiling, decaying lintels and seismic risk from earthquakes. An additional risk is the sexual harassment and abuse of both male and female children in school toilets, because of their location outside the main building.

Changes to infrastructure include the relocation of toilets inside school buildings and extension of the height of the boundary walls.

UNRWA schools in Jordan need to be better protected from...Jordanians? Jordanians who like to sexually abuse little Palestinian boys and girls?

Why isn't UNRWA complaining loudly about this outrage? Why aren't they insisting that these children be protected by Jordanian authorities? Practically all of Palestinian Arab "refugees" in Jordan have held Jordanian citizenship since 1950, how can such abuse be buried? No doubt the schools need better security, but how come UNRWA isn't publicly insisting that Jordan protect her own citizens?

Oh, right. I forgot. If Israeli Jews cannot be blamed, UNRWA will remain silent.

Arabs abusing Arabs must be hushed up, kept behind closed doors, whispered about - but never publicized.

Perceived slights by Jews, however, must be brought to the attention of the General Assembly of the UN, hundreds of times a year if necessary. A bedroom being added to a house in Itamar is far more important than the apparent rampant sexual abuse of Palestinian kids in schools in Jordan.

Every organization has its priorities. Protecting Palestinian Arab children from sexual abuse is just very low on UNRWA's list.

(h/t Irene)

Moo? Ma'an cow story misses the obvious

Ma'an reports:

Customs agents in cooperation with the ministry of agriculture have recently detained four people accused of smuggling dozens of cows from Israel.

Director general of veterinary services at the Palestinian ministry of agriculture Imad Mukarkir told Ma’an that about 100 cows and calves were seized. The suspected smugglers, he said, will be referred to the district attorney for legal procedures.

Meanwhile, the animals will be quarantined and monitored for infections for two weeks.

The suspects will also have to sign obligations to make sure they will not do it again.

Mukarkir warned Palestinian merchants of the consequences of smuggling cows and calves from Israel. The ministry, he added, doesn’t ban imports from Israel, but stipulates that importers adhere with certain regulations set to protect Palestinian citizens.

Does this mean that there is a thriving illegal underground trade between Israelis and West Bank Arabs in cattle?

Of course not. The cows were stolen.

Arabs have been stealing Israeli cattle for decades, and they still do it today.

But you wouldn't know about that by reading Ma'an. No, there are no thieves in this story, just "smugglers." And after the quarantine, the cows will not be returned to their Israeli owners but instead remain with the PA.

More blood libels in Egyptian and Palestinian Arab media

Egyptian newspaper Misr El Gdida has another article about how Jews drink Christian blood for their holidays.

Yes, this is really the illustration accompanying the story.

This is part 2 of an article I noted a couple of weeks ago, but written by a different author. This one starts off
with fake Talmudic quotes about how killing gentiles is obligatory - and goes downhill from there.

It goes on to say that the legend of Dracula is actually true in that Jews love drinking blood, and claims that Jewish historians confirm the ritual slaughter of Christian babies.

Apparently, Jews don't only drink blood as part of Purim pastries and Passover matzoh, but also during weddings and circumcisions.

The article even sarcastically notes that French actress Brigitte Bardot was against Muslim ritual animal slaughter, but never said a word about Jewish ritual murder!

Then it goes through a history of blood libels in the Arab world, ironically proving how ingrained Arab antisemitism is. It brings examples of the libel from Egypt in 1881; Syria in 1810, 1840 and 1890; and in Lebanon in 1824, 1826, 1829 and 1834. The Rhodes blood libel is mentioned as well, along with the long history of false accusations of the blood libel in medieval Europe.

Naturally, no Arab has publicly condemned the newspaper for its libel against Jews.

Just as naturally, human rights organizations are silent, as usual.

UPDATE: A similar article listing dozens of false accusations of Jews murdering Christian children was also published in a "Palestinian diaspora" newspaper on Thursday.

Chag sameach!

Shavuot starts tonight, and I will not be blogging until at least Thursday night.

Meanwhile, I'll be eating way to much of this:

Sure, I have a bit of lactose intolerance - but it is worth it.

Israelis saving the world, again

From Science Daily:

Some parts of the body, like the liver, can regenerate themselves after damage. But others, such as our nervous system, are considered either irreparable or slow to recover, leaving thousands with a lifetime of pain, limited mobility, or even paralysis.

Now a team of Tel Aviv University researchers, including Dr. Shimon Rochkind of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Prof. Zvi Nevo of TAU's Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, has invented a method for repairing damaged peripheral nerves. Through a biodegradable implant in combination with a newly-developed Guiding Regeneration Gel (GRG) that increases nerve growth and healing, the functionality of a torn or damaged nerve could ultimately be restored.

This innovative project is now gaining international recognition. Its initial successes were reported at several recent scientific congresses, including the World Federation of Neurological Societies and the European Neurological Society. And the therapy, already tested in animal models, is only a few years away from clinical use, says Dr. Rochkind.

A nerve is like an electrical cable. When severed or otherwise damaged, power can no longer be transferred and the cable loses its functionality. Similarly, a damaged nerve loses the ability to transfer signals for movement and feeling through the nervous system.
But Dr. Rochkind and Prof. Nevo found a way to breach the gap. In their method, two severed ends of a damaged nerve are reconnected by implanting a soft, biodegradable tube, which serves as a bridge to help the nerve ends connect. The innovative gel which lines the inside of the tube nurtures nerve fibers' growth, encouraging the nerve to reconnect the severed ends through the tube, even in cases with massive nerve damage, Dr. Rochkind says.

The key lies in the composition of the gel, the researchers say, which has three main components: anti-oxidants, which exhibit high anti-inflammatory activities; synthetic laminin peptides, which act as a railway or track for the nerve fibers to grow along; and hyaluronic acid, commonly found in the human fetus, which serves as a buffer against drying, a major danger for most implants. These components allow the nerve to heal the way a fetus does in the womb -- quickly and smoothly.

For some reason, even when so many people want to boycott the Jewish state, Israel has no problem offering its life-saving discoveries to the world.

Obviously, it is a plot.

(h/t Dror)

Tuesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Strange way to promote peace

The Sydney Peace Foundation's stated purpose is "to promote universal human rights and peace with justice" as the building blocks of any civil society. Foundation chairman Stuart Rees, however, has cast a cloud over the organisation's bona fides by dismissing the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism as "childish, thoughtless but easily populist". His condemnation of Julia Gillard and opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne for "cowardice" in signing it almost beggars belief.

Ralph Peters: Israel is a Civilizing Force

RP: To me, when I look at Israel, I see not only a Jewish state rebuilt on the ancient Jewish homeland, I see an outpost of the civilization in which I believe. Because I do not believe that all civilizations are equivalent. I don't believe in a civilization that torments women and children, that's woefully corrupt, that in the 21st century, not only cannot build a competitive automobile, but cannot even build a competitive bicycle!
And while I wish the Arabs well—I wish no man harm, with the exception of a few terrorists here or there—nonetheless, to me, Israel is a beacon of justice, for rule of law, humanity, decency, culture... in short, Israel belongs to the Jews; it belongs to my civilization.

Michael Totten: The Muslim Brotherhood's Empty Chair

So the Washington Institute for Near East Policy invited senior Muslim Brotherhood official Helmy el-Gazzar to its annual conference in the US, booked him on a business class flight from Cairo, and put him up in the luxurious Ritz Carlton. El-Gazzar made it to Washington and checked into his room, but he refused to show up at the conference.
Why? Because Israelis—or “Zionists” as he called them—were also going to be there.

An Open Letter to the Arab League: Thanks, but no Thanks

In conclusion, dear neighbors, we – citizens of Israel – want very much to live in Peace, in a region of peace where you and we enjoy it together. But we do not think that there is any point in signing an agreement with someone who today is here and tomorrow is in a grave, and his successors won’t honor his signature. When the Middle East becomes a region of peace, give us a call, perhaps we will join the peace that you will begin in the Middle East. until then please leave us alone.

Isi Leibler: Candidly Speaking: Déjà vu: ‘Peace in Our Time’

Were we to have a genuine peace partner, we could achieve a peace treaty and grounds for long-term coexistence in a matter of days. But until then our friends should not seek to impose upon us a Chamberlain-style “Peace in our Time” formula.

Jewish Group Honors US Ambassador to UN

The American Jewish Committee last week honored U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice with its prestigious Distinguished Public Service Award.
"I’m deeply moved to receive AJC’s Distinguished Public Service Award,” said Rice. “I’m proud to accept this honor as a tribute to the dedicated work by President Obama, his administration, and my colleagues at the U.S. Mission to the UN.”

Tel Aviv holds White City celebrations

Last weekend Tel Aviv celebrated exactly ten years since UNESCO proclaimed the historic zone of Tel Aviv, also known as the White City, as a World Cultural Heritage site.
The White City, so named for the buildings’ white walls, is the world’s largest grouping of buildings in the International Style, also known as Bauhaus.

Wolfson heart surgeons save Syrian girl

A four-year-old girl from Syria underwent successful lifesaving heart surgery at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon on Monday as part of its voluntary Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) activities. The child, whose identity is not being released to keep the family safe from extremists in her country, was referred to SACH by an American humanitarian organization operating in Israel and Jordan.

Ashton Kutcher looks to invest in Israeli high-tech
American actor tells GarageGeeks gathering in Tel Aviv that he’s looking for “original, creative startups.”

American actor Ashton Kutcher and his investment partner, Guy Oseary, a producer in the US music industry and Madonna’s personal manager, stole the spotlight at the GarageGeeks gathering in Tel Aviv last night. Yossi Vardi, unofficial ambassador of the Israeli high-tech scene, hosted Kutcher and Oseary as part of a “Meet the Industry Leaders” event.
Kutcher, on his fifth visit to Israel, came to find “interesting entrepreneurs.”

Israel Daily Picture: The Shavuot Holiday, Celebrating the Giving of the Torah

Jews around the world commemorate the holiday of Shavuot this week, the day on which tradition says the Torah was given to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai.

The Book of Ruth Comes Alive in Antique Photos Taken 100 Years Ago

A major effort was made by the photographers to re-enact the story of Ruth. "Ruth," we believe, was a young member of the American Colony community; the remaining "cast" were villagers from the Bethlehem area who were actually harvesting, threshing and winnowing their crops. We have matched the pictures with corresponding verses from the Book of Ruth.