Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 20, 2013

Syria TV claims capture of IDF jeep in Qusayr (video) (update)

From Lebanon's pro-Assad al-Mayadeen TV:

This al-Mayadeen TV exclusive footage shows a Jeep armored vehicle (armored version of AIL M240 Storm used by the IDF) that was used by the "Free Syrian Army" (FSA) in the Qusayr city that is currently being liberated by the Syrian Army. Writings in Hebrew can be seen on the vehicle, as shown in the footage. This is yet another example demonstrating the ties that bind the so-called "Free Syrian Army" to their American-Israeli backers.

So what is going on?

A YouTube commenter, Mossesle, explains:

This vehicle is an old vehicle, probably from ~2000 when Israel left Southern Lebanon and left some equipment. as all know ... Hizbolla took this equipment back then and probably is using it today for propaganda .... . the Hizbula are killing Syrians and want to show a picture that Israel is involved

Another tweeter says that the IDF does not use Jeeps like this at this time.

(h/t David Ha'Ivri)

UPDATE: The IDF says that the Jeep was being tested for use by the South Lebanese Army back in the 1990s, and clearly Hezbollah took it to use for propaganda purposes now. (h/t Judge Dan)

40 Hezbollah members, including a major leader, reportedly killed

From Al Arabiya:

At least 40 Hezbollah fighters have been reportedly killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr late on Sunday, sources told Al Arabiya, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter the town earlier in the day.

Sources also told Al Arabiya that tens of Hezbollah members were wounded during the fight and had been taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment.

The assault on Qusayr appeared to be part of a campaign by President Bashar al-Assad's forces to consolidate their grip on Damascus and secure links between the capital and the government strongholds on the coast via the contested central city of Homs.

State news agency SANA said the army had "restored security and stability to most Qusayr neighborhoods" and was "chasing the remnants of the terrorists in the northern district".

Meanwhile, sources said that Hezbollah official Fady al-Jazzar was reportedly among those killed. Al-Jazzar is considered to be a high ranking Hezbollah officer and was imprisoned in Israel until he returned to Lebanon in a prisoner-exchange deal.

News on his death came after contact was lost with the group that was under his command, Al Arabiya said.

Other sources in Syria confirm some 23 Hezbollah terrorists killed.

Apparently, though, the town of Quseir came back under Syrian regime control, as they fired huge numbers of rockets into the town.

While Hezbollah moves from Lebanon to Syria to fight, the Syrian civil war made more inroads to Lebanon, with several reportedly killed in Tripoli in Sunni-Shi'ite clashes.

Meanwhile, Syrian gunfire hit the Israeli part of the Golan.

The number of people killed and refugees in Syria over the past two years now exceeds the number killed and of refugees on both sides of the past 100 years of conflict between Zionists and Arabs. So, naturally, this cognitive dissonance causes some people to find ways to blame Israel for Arabs slaughtering each other:

(h/t Israel Muse)

"Israeli bride performs Talmudic rituals" near Cotton Gate of Temple Mount

A Jewish bride, apparently on her wedding day, decided to go as close as possible to the Temple Mount to say Psalms.

Along with some friends, she walked down the Cotton Market in Jerusalem during a Muslim prayer time when the market is nearly empty. She was stopped, and protected, at the entrance to the Cotton Gate by Israeli police.

Arabic media is reporting that she performed "Talmudic rituals" and that this was an "extreme provocation." (They also called the bride and her small entourage "settlers.")

Apparently, Muslims can whip out their prayer rugs and worship wherever they want, but Jews don't share that right.

A Christian-Jewish group condemned the peaceful event as well.

In fact, according to Sheikh Nageh Pkarat, any prayers in the area of the holiest spot in Judaism is a "violation of international law" since it is a place for Muslim prayers only.

Pkarat also said that Jewish prayers in the area are against the Jewish religion as well.

It is always nice to have an expert on Judaism around to be authoritatively quoted in the Arab media.

Nazi flag flown near West Bank mosque

From Tazpit News Agency:

Hundreds of residents of Gush Etzion were astounded to find a Nazi flag flying right near the mosque in the Palestinian town of Beit Omar. The IDF was notified.

Uri Arnon told Tazpit News Agency: "I felt we were going back 75 years, losing our hold on the land. The Arabs no longer feel the need to hide their murderous tendencies, announcing out loud that they wish to destroy us."

An IDF spokesman said that the flag was hung on an electrical line, and that they were waiting to professionals to come and remove it.

Apparently, no Arabs were offended enough by this flag to want to take it down themselves.

But remember - according to Columbia University professor Joseph Massad, Zionists are the Nazis and Palestinian Arabs are the ones fighting antisemitism.

(h/t Avi Mayer)

Arab stamps commemorating the Al Dura hoax

Today, the Israeli government released a report saying that Mohamed Al Dura, the young boy who symbolized the second intifada for so many, was not killed by Israel and indeed was probably not killed at all.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received today the report of the Government Review Committee on "The France 2 Al-Durrah Report, its Consequences and Implications." The report was presented by the Minister of International Affairs, Strategy and Intelligence Yuval Steinitz, in the presence of Director General of the Ministry of International Affairs and Strategy, Yossi Kuperwasser.

Prime Minister Netanyahu directed then Minister of Strategic Affairs Yaalon to set up the governmental review committee in September 2012. The purpose of the committee was to examine the Al-Durrah affair in light of the continued damage it has caused to Israel, and to formulate the Government of Israel's position with regards to it.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "It is important to focus on this incident – which has slandered Israel's reputation. This is a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel. There is only one way to counter lies, and that is through the truth. Only the truth can prevail over lies."

Minister of International Affairs, Strategy and Intelligence Yuval Steinitz: " The Al-Durrah affair is a modern-day blood libel against the State of Israel, alongside other blood libels like the claims of an alleged massacre in Jenin. The France 2 report was utterly baseless."

The Al-Durrah affair has its origins in a media report first aired by the French public television channel France 2 on September 30, 2000. The report claimed to show the killing of a Palestinian boy, targeted along with his father, according to the report, by fire from an Israeli position. The story was quickly relayed worldwide by the international media, which repeated the report's claim. The report had the immediate effect of harming Israel's international standing and fanning the flames of terror and hate.

Since that day, the narrative spawned by the France 2 report has served as an inspiration and justification for terrorism, anti-Semitism, and the delegitimization of Israel. The echoes of the Al-Durrah report, both in terms of accusations against Israel and in terms of media reports adopted uncritically by the international media which are later revealed to be false or misleading, have continued to resonate in the media coverage of Israel's operations against terrorist organizations.

This news is only 13 years too late.

The incompetence of the extraordinarily late Israeli response to this modern blood libel would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous.

One appendix of the report shows stamps issued in Arab countries playing up the hoax as a means of inciting the world against Israel, from Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Morocco and Tunisia:

They missed Jordan's stamp series:

And Sudan's:

And Yemen's:

And Saudi Arabia's:

And a second stamp from Morocco:

At least nine Muslim countries - including "moderate" countries like Jordan and Morocco - commemorated a death that was nothing more than a hoax, for the sole purpose of inciting hundreds of millions of Muslims and Arabs against the Jewish state.

If you want to see all the Al Dura evidence yourself, this website has tons of materials, including videos and maps showing the impossibility of Israeli fire hitting the boy.

Obama administration apologizes to Israel over Syria leak

From The Blaze:

The Obama administration has reportedly apologized to Israel for another leak of classified information to the media, one that occurred earlier this month and which Israeli officials are concerned could place Israeli lives at risk.

Israel Radio’s diplomatic correspondent Chico Menashe reported Sunday morning (via the Jerusalem Post):

American officials apologized to their Israeli counterparts for confirming that Israel was behind the airstrikes on the Damascus airport earlier this month, Israel Radio reported on Sunday.

The confirmation reportedly came from the lower ranks at the Pentagon, and the reasons for the leak are being investigated.

Menashe tweeted: “The U.S. has apologized to Israel for leaking details of the attack in Syria. Senior administration officials said to their [Israeli] counterparts that they are examining the issue and that low-level [officials] were responsible for the leak.”

Menashe also wrote, “US officials told that they [will] review the matter. The leak forced Assad to react harshly.”

Two weeks later, Israel still has not officially taken responsibility for the bombings, which allegedly targeted Iranian Fateh-110 missiles intended to bolster Hezbollah’s arsenal.

Israeli security analysts suggest that confirmation of Israel Defense Forces involvement – even if leaked via American sources – not only could potentially endanger any agents still on the ground in Syria, but would also put pressure on embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad to retaliate against the Jewish state.

Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center, told TheBlaze, “It requires the Syrians to react officially rather than deny that it happened or that it was an accident. It forces Syria and Hezbollah and Iran to react officially and say they want to seek revenge, which makes things more dangerous for Israel.”

“Can you imagine if things were reversed and somebody did that to the U.S.?” he added.

Assad may already be responding. Britain’s Sunday Times reported that the Syrian military has placed advanced weapons on standby to strike Israel, in the event Israel strikes targets again in Syria.

The report said that reconnaissance satellite images show Syria has surface-to-surface Tishreen missiles ready for use and aimed at Tel Aviv. Each can carry a half ton payload, according to the paper.

In an interview with CNN shortly after the airstrikes, Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad called the attack a “declaration of war,” adding that Syria would retaliate in its own time and way.

The Sunday Times is not the most reliable source as far as the reports that Tishreen missiles are aimed at Israel:

On Sunday, Israel Defense Forces' Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yoav (Poly) Mordechai denied the Times report. Writing on his Facebook page, Mordechai said that "I don't know who this unnamed source is. I have learned a lot over the last two years about the calculated use of such remarks to achieve this or that objective. Since I am very well acquainted with the official position of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I find this quote to be implausible, and I would even go as far as to say that it sounds baseless."

But the rest of the article is on target. We've seen Bashar Assad sweep previous attacks under the rug to avoid having his hand forced to respond militarily to Israel. These leaks from Washington were potentially life-threatening and truly a bone-headed move. As Barry Rubin said, if the tables were turned, the White House would be livid - and rightfully so.

(h/t Mohammed the Teddy Bear)

These religious Jewish girls can kick some serious a**

From YNet:

When talking about the world champions in Thailand-style kickboxing, one usually imagines tough Amazons who would gladly kick one's head or demonstrate a punch in the jaw at any

Sarah Avraham winning her medal

given moment.

Well, two religious teenage girls are out to break that stereotype: The two Israelis, who combine training with Torah studies, won the Muay Thai world championship held in Bangkok several weeks ago.

Five times a week, Nili Block, 18, of Beit Shemesh, and Sarah Avraham, 18, of Kiryat Arba, replace their religious schoolgirl outfits with boxing gloves and sportswear and head to the boxing center at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium.

The intensive training with a punching bag led them to the title of world champions: Nili defeated a Bulgarian opponents in the 51-54-kilogram (112-119-pound) class, while Sarah beat her British opponents in the 57-63.5-kilogram (125-140-pound) class.

The Big Chilli adds:

DEDICATED, motivated, strong, humble and fiercely competitive – these are all accurate descriptions of American-born Israeli athlete Nili Block. Add another word to that list of adjectives – multitalented. On March 1 she came first in the women’s 16-19 age group, 10km leg, of the Jerusalem Marathon, beating 500 runners in her category and covering the distance in 44 minutes. Just a little more than two weeks later, on March 16, she was awarded a gold medal in the 54kg division of the 10th Amateur-Pro Muay Thai Championships in Bangkok,
winning the title bout against a Bulgarian boxer.

Adding to her sporting achievements is a four year stint (2008 – 2012) as a member of the Israeli national flag football team, for whom she played abroad in many countries, including France and Germany. She started playing the game − a version of American football in which the ball-carrier is stripped of a flag instead of tackled – when she was 11.

Nili was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States and her family moved to Israel when she was two years old. She started learning Muay Thai at the age of 10. ‘‘My mum was at that time a volunteer police woman attached to the Jerusalem police department and she was looking for some kind of martial arts which would be beneficial for her work,” said Nili. “I went with her as she looked for a Muay Thai training camp and I started to train with her. I stopped training for two years while going to school and resumed when I was 13. My father (an orthodox Jew and a dentist by profession) supports and encourages me to box.”

...
Sarah wasn’t available for an interview, but she also has quite an amazing story. Born into a Hindu family in Mumbai, India, her father was a friend of Rabbi Gavriel and his wife Rivka, who were both murdered when terrorists attacked the Chabad House (Jewish community centre) in Mumbai in November 2008. Out of solidarity with the Jewish people, Sarah’s entire family converted to Judaism and migrated to Israel in 2009. Sarah took up Muay Thai while studying in a religious school.

If you can stand the music, here's Nili's winning fight:

Anti-Israel stamps from Algeria

First of a series looking at anti-Israel postage stamps from Arab countries.

1966 - "Massacre at Deir TYassin"

1976 - "Solidarity with Palestinian People" - Map erasing Israel

1990 - "Solidarity with Palestinians"

2001 - Celebration of Intifada

Al Jazeera pulls antisemitic Massad piece; Israel haters freak (UPDATE)

Last week I - and many others - criticized an absurd article by Columbia professor Joseph Massad in Al Jazeera that pretty much said Zionists were Nazis and antisemitic, while those who are against Jewish self-determination were the only people who were against antisemitism.

Petra Marquardt-B. at JPost even created a little quiz to see if people could distinguish between Massad's hate and that from neo-Nazi websites. In fact, they are literally indistinguishable.

Surprisingly, Al Jazeera pulled the article after this criticism. Some things go even too far for them!

But not far enough for the rabid haters at Electronic Intifada. They are foaming at the mouth:

In an unprecedented act of political censorship Al Jazeera English has deleted an article by noted Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad after coming under intense criticism from Zionists in recent days.

The backlash has been so intense precisely because Massad goes to the core of Israel’s claim to represent Jews and to cast its critics as anti-Semites by showing that indeed it is Israel and Zionism that partake of the same anti-Semitism that targeted European Jews.

In doing so, Massad pulls the rug from under Zionists and Israel lobbyists by demonstrating that they are the anti-Semites and taking away the most formidable weapon they wield against critics of Israel: the accusation that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.

By neutralizing this ideological weapon that Israel has used so effectively in the Western media to cover up its colonization of Palestine, Massad’s pro-Jewish position and strenuous attack on Zionist anti-Semitism is clearly understood by Israel lobby figures such as Goldberg as a complete obliteration of their ideological arsenal.

Yet, I showed easily how Massad's main argument, that EI considers "convincing," is simply a lie.

I'm actually surprised that Al Jazeera pulled it; I was not aware of anyone who complained to them. I'm sure some complained to Columbia for employing a professor for whom facts are mere props to be used, shaped or discarded at will.

(h/t Emet)

UPDATE: AJ put it back, then removed it, then put it back again. Nowhere could I find the slightest indication that pressure from Jewish or Zionist groups made them take it down to begin with.

Sunday Links

From Ian:

Howard Jacobson: It’s official: thanks to Stephen Hawking's Israel boycott, anti-Semitism is no more

Why is Israel alone of all offending countries to be boycotted? Perhaps because it's that offending country which also just happens to be Jewish?

And now, with Stephen Hawking announcing, by means of an Israeli-made device, that he no longer wants to talk to the scientists who invented it, or to Israeli scientists who invented or might invent anything else, or indeed to Israeli historians, critics, biologists, physicists of any complexion, no matter what their relations to Palestinian scholars whom he does want to talk to, we are reminded that the cultural boycott with which he has suddenly decided to throw in his lot is entirely unJew-related, which is more good news. “Peace”, that is all Professor Hawking seeks, a word that was left out of his statement as reproduced on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign website, presumably on the grounds that everyone already knows that peace is all the PSC has ever wanted too. (h/t Yerushalimey)

Naqba — Commemorating a Self-Inflicted Tragedy

As Israel’s UN ambassador Abba Eban was to put it, “Once you determine the responsibility for that war, you have determined the responsibility for the refugee problem. Nothing in the history of our generation is clearer or less controversial than the initiative of Arab governments for the conflict out of which the refugee tragedy emerged.”
However, the Palestinians do not mourn today the ill-conceived choice of going to war to abort Israel. They mourn only that they failed.

Erasing Sykes-Picot

Much has been written about whether the instability in Iraq, the warfare in Syria and the crises this causes for Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, the Kurdish drive for autonomy (at least) in Iraq and Turkey, will at some point combine to unravel the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement between France and England. Put another way, the question is whether the borders established in the context of the First World War will stick.

Beyond the BBC mantra on ‘international law’

Of course that simplistic, politicised statement glosses over a multitude of differing opinions and factors, many of which are touched upon in this video from Shalom TV in which Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University provides interesting food for thought. (1hr video)

Jews harassed in Malmö, May 2013 German TV

Security Chief: IDF Taking Off the Silk Gloves

The IDF is ending its ‘silk glove treatment’ of Arabs who attack Israeli towns with rocks and firebombs, security chief says.

Babies Narrowly Escape Rock Attack

Arab gang hits father-of-three, babies in back seat have narrow escape.

Netanyahu: Israel Acting to Deny Hizbullah Syrian Arms

Israel preventing Syrian weapons from reaching Hizbullah and will continue to do so, Netanyahu says.

Report: Syrian Army Aiming Missiles at Tel Aviv

The Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles and has aimed them at Tel Aviv, the British Sunday Times reports.

Congress set to tighten economic noose on Iran

The US House and Senate are set to advance two bills that would significantly expand US sanctions on Iran beyond the financial and energy sectors and offer support for Israel in case of a confrontation with Tehran.

Spike in Threats to US Embassies in Sunni Middle East

The Wall Street Journal – The U.S. is seeing a spike in al Qaeda-related terror plots and threats against its embassies in Libya, Yemen and Egypt, say current and former U.S. officials citing domestic and foreign intelligence reports.

Israel, Turkey and gas
It is becoming evident that a veiled agenda underpinned the recent Turkish willingness to consider a rapprochement with Israel.

Turkey grows increasingly dependent on Russia for its gas supplies. This hardly instills joy in Turkish hearts, especially considering the fact that Moscow and Ankara are at direct loggerheads over Syria. Israel, having repeatedly proven itself both reliable and exceedingly pliable, is now regarded as a safer bet for Turkish gas supplies – certainly safer than such alternatives to Russia as Iran. Moreover, Israeli gas could be had at a significantly lower cost.

Pango puts you in a parking spot in NYC

The Israeli app takes the headaches out of finding a place to put your car in the Big Apple and other US cities, with more to come.

Researchers Stumble Upon The Heart’s Self-Healing Ability

Sometimes accidents lead to the greatest discoveries. In a recent study conducted at Israeli medical center Hadassah, researchers stumbled on a key mechanism in the heart’s regenerative capabilities.

New wave of blasphemy charges - and hypocrisy - in Egypt

From AP:

The pale, young Christian woman sat handcuffed in the courtroom, accused of insulting Islam while teaching history of religions to fourth-graders. A team of Islamist lawyers with long beards sang in unison, “All except the Prophet Muhammad.”

The case against Dimyana Abdel-Nour in southern Egypt’s ancient city of Luxor began when parents of three of her pupils claimed that their children, aged 10, complained their teacher showed disgust when she spoke of Islam in class. According to the parents, Abdel-Nour, 24, told the children that Pope Shenouda, who led the Egyptian Coptic Church until his death last year, was better than the Prophet Muhammad.

Blasphemy charges were not uncommon in Egypt under the now-ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s regime, but there has been a surge in such cases in recent months, according to rights activists. The trend is widely seen as a reflection of the growing power and confidence of Islamists, particularly the ultraconservative Salafis.

“Salafis are the engineers of these stories,” said Abdel-Hamid Hassan, a Muslim and the head of the parents’ council at the primary school where Abdel-Nour teaches. Hassan’s daughter was among several students who denied any wrongdoing by Abdel-Nour.

Criminalizing blasphemy was enshrined in the country’s Islamist-backed constitution that was adopted in December.

Writers, activists and even a famous television comedian have been accused of blasphemy since then. But Christians seem to be the favorite target of Islamist prosecutors. Their fragile cases - the main basis of the case against Abdel-Nour’s case the testimony of children - are greeted with sympathy from courtroom judges with their own religious bias or who fear the wrath of Islamists, according to activists.

The result is a growing number of Egyptians, including many Christians, who have been convicted and sent to prison for blasphemy.

...
Another rights group, the EIPR, said it chronicled at least 36 blasphemy cases in 2011 and 2012, including more than 10 convictions, and that Christian school teachers were frequent targets.

“Teachers are an easy target,” said Gibrael. “Any two students can say anything about their teachers. Islamist teachers collect signatures, and quickly Islamists move a case, then terrorize the court by holding protests and besieging the court building until the judge issues a verdict. I have seen it all,” he said.

The end of the article is more interesting than the beginning:

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood likes to project itself as a more moderate Islamist group when compared to the ultraconservative Salafis, but they still play a role in the blasphemy cases.

The top Brotherhood leader in Luxor, Abdel-Hamid el-Senoussi, is a lawmaker and the head of the legal team representing the families whose children testified against Abdel-Nour.

He acknowledged that two investigations by the school found no justification for the children’s claims, but said he does not trust those findings.

“They just want to avoid discord. But we prefer to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “Even if the court clears the teacher and rules that she is innocent, she must be fired from the school.”

“There are people who want to mess up with the ship of the nation and this teacher is one of them,” he said.

For him, the penalty for contempt of religion is not harsh enough. “I prefer 10 years imprisonment and, in case the judge clears the defendant, a fine that goes toward the upkeep of places of worship.”

“Anyone who insults religions must be punished to deter further assaults,” he said.

Given the huge amount of antisemitism coming out of Egypt, that last sentence is a real howler.

Poor Gazans suffering from a glut of consumer goods (photos)

Last night I noted that the price for construction materials in Gaza have gone way down, mostly from increased imports through Kerem Shalom.

Now, we are learning that pretty much everything else in Gaza is cheap as well.

Goods that are selling at a discount in Gaza now include chocolate, nuts, beans, meat and both Feta and Bulgarian(!) cheeses.

The reason seems to be because the Egyptian pound has lost so much value so smuggled goods have become cheaper.

Keep in mind, though, that these price discounts are even after the recent Egyptian crackdown on smuggling tunnels.

Here are recent photos, all from this year, of the Saka supermarket in Gaza:

In other "siege" news, recently Israel allowed Gaza factories to export furniture to Egypt via Kerem Shalom.

And Egypt closed their border to Gaza for the third consecutive day.

Palestinian Media Watch translates a May 6th article from the official PA daily, Al Hayat al Jadida:

Easter... is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism, because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews - as reported in the New Testament - reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.

Jesus, may he rest in peace, the virtuous patriotic Palestinian forefather, who renewed the Old Testament, split away from its followers, brought forth his New Testament and spread it among mankind - which led the Jews to persecute him until they caught him, crucified him and murdered him. Afterwards, he rose from the dead like the phoenix and set out to spread his teachings that still exist and will exist as long as mankind exists.

Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story; the Zionist movement - tool of the capitalist West - wanted to falsify historical facts, to exile and crucify the Palestinian Arab nation and then murder it by means of ethnic cleansing... But the Palestinians, Jesus' descendants, rose from the ashes, like the phoenix, from the ruins of the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the Naksa (i.e., "the setback," Palestinian term for Israel's victory in the Six Day War.) They dressed their wounds and raised the flag of nationality again by founding parties and factions...

Easter is a distinct [Palestinian] national holiday which doesn't concern only Christians but rather all Palestinians believing in the different religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

"Siege " news: Cement prices in Gaza plummet

Gaza tunnel owners are complaining that the price of cement has plummeted, because of Israel allowing far more construction materials into Gaza in recent months.

The price per ton of cement has gone down to 370 shekels (roughly $103.) This is about the same price that cement costs in the US.

Israel has allowed organizations like UNRWA to import construction materials for projects in Gaza, in an attempt to ensure that Hamas doesn't use it to build weapons bunkers and tunnels to kidnap Israelis. As a result, there are more apartments available and the demand for homes and cement has gone down.

A tunnel owner said that the amount of cement he was smuggling dropped from 1500 tons a day to 500 tons a day over the past several weeks. He said that tunnel jobs were disappearing.

Meanwhile, Egyptian police continue their very real siege of Gaza:

Hundreds of Palestinian travelers were stranded at Rafah crossing on Gaza's border on Saturday as Egyptian police refused to open the terminal, in protest over the kidnapping of their colleagues.

Meanwhile, Egyptian security forces closed the airport and seaport in el-Arish on Saturday, also in protest over the kidnapping of seven Egyptian police and soldiers on Thursday in Sinai.

Maher Abu Sabha, the general director of crossings and borders, said 800 Palestinians were stranded on the Egyptian side of the crossing on Saturday morning.

The number was expected to reach 1,000 by the end of the day. Most travelers are waiting for the crossing to reopen in hotels in el-Arish. They include sick people who had received medical treatment abroad, pilgrims and students who study abroad.

Egyptian police closed the gates of Rafah crossing on Friday after gunmen kidnapped seven Egyptian servicemen in an ambush in Sinai's Wadi al-Akhdar early Thursday.

Four of the captured men worked at Rafah crossing, sources at the terminal said.

Egyptian forces stepped up a campaign to close tunnels along the border amid concerns the captured servicemen would be smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

I still have yet to read any article describing this as a "siege" or "collective punishment" of Gazans.

UPDATE: Hamas is also blocking anyone from traveling through the tunnels under Rafah.

Saturday Links

From Ian:

Honest Reporting: Maybe Israel Isn’t Behind the Middle East’s Despair

The just resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict is impeded by a decades-old intolerance of the Jewish presence in the Middle East. Because rejecting the right to self-determination is unpalatable to a western mindset, this intolerance is disguised through inversions. It is a conflict that is passed off as territorial, but is existential. It masquerades as a concern for “human rights” but ignores true injustice. It heaps selective opprobrium on Israel alone for an impasse in peace talks but overlooks official Palestinian Authority glorification of terrorism and jihad which makes peace anathema.

Sarah Honig: While we keep kvetching

Camp David eventually flopped, according to Ben-Ami, because “the Palestinians refused to give us any inkling about where their demands would terminate. Our impression was that they constantly sought to drag us into a black hole of another concession and another, without there being anything like a discernible finish-line.”
Ben-Ami’s unavoidable conclusion was that “more than the Palestinians want their own state they want to condemn ours… They always leave loose ends… to keep viable the option that at some future point someone would pull these ends and unravel the Jewish state.”

Kerry to visit Israel, Palestinian territories next week

Secretary of state to make third trip to the region in as many months since taking the post

Stand With Us: Palestinian History of Violence

Barry Rubin: Who’s More Dangerous: Sunni or Shia Islamists?

In short, while one can make the case for Shia Islamism being the more dangerous—at least as long as Iran might get nuclear weapons—one must very carefully examine the implications of that judgment in every specific case. Promoting Sunni Islam is no panacea but rather substitutes longer-term for shorter-term threats.

From Al Jazeera to Columbia University: Joseph Massad’s obsession with Israel

Whether the resulting ideas are articulated in a Columbia University classroom or on Al Jazeera or Stormfront makes little difference as far as their substance is concerned. I tried to illustrate this point in my recent post on Massad with some quotes (I have added here two more) that are either from Massad or from Stormfront – see if you can tell them apart:

The Interfaith Racket: Passport to Credibility

Could anyone get anything more wrong? People wanted to "knock [Ahmed] down" because he was the first Muslim peer? Because Ahmed was the first Muslim peer, most people were eager to do anything they could to cover for him, forgive him, reinstate him time and again – and even now, as the rabbi has just shown, are not able to believe the words that came from his mouth in Pakistan because they so differed from the words that came from his mouth at interfaith meetings in London.

Yet Another Jewish Org Poised to Honor a BDS Enthusiast

American Friends of Soroka Medical Center are giving an award at their gala to Mandy Patinkin, an American Jewish celebrity who supports economic warfare against Jews living and working in Judea and Samaria.

Sinai Bedouin Hint: We Were Better Off Under Israel

Bedouin tribes in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula implied on Thursday that they were better off living under Israeli rule and that they have been suffering since Israel withdrew from the region as part of the peace agreement with Egypt.

One dead, dozens wounded in sectarian clashes in Egypt

One person died and dozens were wounded during clashes between Muslims and Christians late Friday night outside a Coptic church in Egypt's second city, state newspaper al-Ahram reported, in the latest violent sectarian row in the Muslim-majority country.

Assad's Government Tortured Citizens, Says HRW

Syrians were arbitrarily detained and tortured by government forces in security buildings in northern Syria, says Human Rights Watch.

Syrian rebels: Dozens hurt in chemical weapons attack in Damascus

Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons-laced mortars in a Damascus neighborhood Saturday, injuring dozens, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed.

Unmoved by Israel, Russia will send top air-defense system to Assad

Moscow says it must honor its deal with Damascus, even though Netanyahu warned Putin that delivery of S-300 missiles could plunge the region into war

Moroccan jailed for plotting to bomb Milan synagogue

A 22-year-old Moroccan man has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for planning terrorist attacks on Milan’s main synagogue and Jewish school.

Gush Halav: Home to the Maronites

Khalloul explained that like Father Abraham, the Maronites originated in Aram (an enormous area stretching from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Sea). Over time, they dispersed throughout the Middle East. When the Arabs swooped into the region early in the 7th century, they tried to force Islam on the Aramaen population in general and the Maronites in particular. Yet despite immense pressure, the Maronites, like the Jews, refused to abandon their faith. Since then, Aramaen Maronites have been continually persecuted by the Arabs. Most of the area’s Maronites eventually moved for safety into the Lebanese mountains, where they tilled the rocky hills. Thousands were killed in a bloodbath that took place in the mountains in 1860.

The Farhud – the riots against the Jews of Iraq

During Shavuot, Iraqi Jews will commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the “Farhud” – the riots that took place on Shavuot, June 1-2, 1941. In the riots reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Germany, 179 Jews were murdered, hundreds more wounded and much Jewish property looted.
The memory of the riots remains fresh in the minds of Iraqi Jews.
Similar attacks occurred against almost all Jewish communities in Arab countries, for thousands of years. The Jews did not declare war on their hosts.