Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, June 03, 2013

Erdogan comes out fighting - against Twitter

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the microblogging website Twitter as “trouble” in a television interview today, daily Radikal has reported.

“There is a trouble called Twitter. Unmitigated lies are there [on Twitter],” Erdoğan said. “The thing that is called social media is a troublemaker in societies today.”

Erdoğan knows a thing or two about how easy it is to lie on Twitter. After all, he posts often to his own Twitter account.

Meanwhile, as riots in Turkey continue for the fourth day, Erdogan is blaming foreign spies:

Turkish intelligence is looking into possible links between the incidents in Taksim Square and foreign powers, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at a press conference today before leaving for Morocco, accusing internal and foreign actors of supporting the Gezi Park protests.

“Our intelligence work is ongoing [to determine the foreign actors behind the protests]. It is not possible to reveal their names. But we will have meetings with their heads,” said Erdoğan.

“Those who advise us to be moderate must themselves first come to moderation,” he said, referring to the international reactions to the use of force against protests that have erupted in all corners of the country.

See? You should listen to Erdogan instead of to silly rumors on social media!

Yesterday, everyone's favorite "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas pushed some more crazed conspiracy theories
which are perfectly acceptable in mainstream Arabic discourse and that are rarely reported in the West.

In an interview with Saudi Arabia's Al Watan, Abbas spoke of the "imminent danger faced by the Al-Aqsa Mosque," claiming that excavations carried out by Israel on the courtyard and under the foundations threatens the mosque with collapse. Abbas bitterly complained about the "fanatic Jewish extremists" being allowed to enter the Temple Mount "to practice their religion," explaining that it is all part of "an evil and dangerous scheme to destroy [Al Aqsa] and establish the alleged Temple."

This is not the first time Abbas has pushed nutty conspiracy theories. In no less a venue than the UN, Abbas claimed that Jews are training wild dogs to attack Arabs and releasing wild pigs to wreak havoc on their fields.

Then, as now, the Western media ignored Abbas' lunatic rants. They are emotionally invested in Abbas as a reasonable peacemaker fighting stoically against the extremist Netanyahu government. Noting that Abbas embraces the most insane anti-Israel conspiracy theories simply does not fit that narrative, so it is not reported.

After all, no sane person can insist Israel give up more concessions and sign agreements with someone who does not have a basic grasp of reality.

Abbas' insanity must be hush-hushed, for the good of the Middle East.

Sexual violence in Egypt has increased under Islamist rule

If anyone still thought that wearing a burqa protects women from sexual harassment or that Islamist influence would result in men respecting women more...sorry to disappoint you:

Sexual violence against women in Egypt has increased in the post-revolutionary Islamist rule, according to official reports and rights activists.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality said in a report published on May 23 that 99.3 percent of Egyptian women have experienced some form of sexual violence.

Nearly 50 percent of women reported more harassment after the revolution; 44 percent said the level of harassment remained the same before and after the revolution. Meanwhile, more than 58 percent of men surveyed said harassment increased after the revolution.

Egypt's general directorate of moral police at the ministry of interior reported that 9,468 cases of harassment, 329 sexual assaults and 112 cases of rape took place in 2012.

Activists say the figures released by the government are smaller than the actual ones because many women do not report cases of harassment against them to the police in fear of shame.

The U.N. study found that only 19 percent of women actually report sexual violence against them to the police. It said 32.2 percent keep quiet and move away from the scene, while 26.9 choose to insult or hit back the assailant.

“What is different now [post-revolution], and why this has been brought to public and international attention, is that we’re witnessing a number of very violent assaults and rape,” Diana Eltahawy, a researcher at Amnesty International Egypt, told Al Arabiya English.

Manal Abdul Aziz Ali, a Cairo-based journalist said, “Today, neither a foreigner nor an Egyptian can enjoy a sense of safety... because of the noticeable rise in the rate of crime and harassment against women.”

The reported rise of sexual violence against women is often attributed to security deterioration and the rise of radical Islamists who seek to frighten women away from public places where anti-Islamist protests take place.

Salafist preacher Ahmad Mahmoud Abdullah said earlier this year that women protesting in Tahrir Square are “no red line” because they “have no shame and want to be raped,” a statement which was perceived as a sanctioning of violence against women.

Egyptian women now “have to think twice” before attending demonstrations, Abdul Aziz Ali said, “not because [women] fear tear gas or even bullets, but because of the harassment being practiced by some thugs and parties to discourage revolutionaries from participating in such events.”

The report itself includes some truly horrific statistics, such as 8% of women who are continuously harassed have attempted suicide as a result. 93.4% of the harassed women didn't even bother to tell police.

75.7% of the women who were abused say they were wearing conservative clothing and no makeup at the time of the attacks.

A commenter recently wrote about her experience in Egypt:

I am a 27 yr old female having just returned from a 9 day trip to Egypt. It was was honestly the worst holiday of my life. 90% of the men were sleazy and intimidating, and I got hassled at least every half an hour, even at the hotel (Hilton sharks bay). One of the house keepers (room service) staff even groped my boob. I chose to ignore it on the day as I did not trust the management of the hotel. A few days later when checking out, I made a formal complaint to the management at Hilton and burst out crying in the reception. I will be making a formal complaint. I can't imagine what the women of Egypt have to go through on a daily basis, and I really hope the mentality of these people changes and they learn to respect women. Absolutely unacceptable and I will certainly NOT be returning to this otherwise beautiful country unless things change.

Khaybar screenwriter: "Jewish community based on fraud and deceit"

Al Ahram has another interview with someone involved in the upcoming antisemitic TV series "Khaybar," and as usual the Jew-hatred that the series will exhibit is being displayed in all its ugliness. See below for what you can do about it.

The screenwriter, Yusri Al-Jindi, describes how he means for the miniseries to show the deceit of Jews from the time of Moses until today, concentrating on the interactions between the Jewish community of Khaybar and the early Muslims who ended up massacring them.

Al Jindi says that for thousands of years, Jews have been winning not because of their strength but because of the weakness of others, so they have always been working on working on the fragmentation and weakening of the Arab societies in all forms, since the era of Mohammed until now.

The writer goes on to say that the Jewish community from the outset has been based on fraud and deceit and foul traits, ideas and styles, from the days of Moses until the present time. The Jews do not want peace in the world, and this has been their approach for three thousand years old; the Jews have not changed since the Old Testament, according to al-Jindi. He continued on that the Jews are known for breaking promises and ignoring agreements, as they are today in the Sinai.

Al-Jindu adds that Jews do not know how to live in a society of peace, and they have been behind every calamity that has ever occurred in the Arab and Islamic world. Unfortunately there are those who consider them peace partners, but this is a lie - the Jews want to exclude all others so that they can live on this earth alone.

Arab projection of their own traits onto Jews (Elder's First Rule of Arab and Islamic Projection) is rarely this obvious.

The Khaybar mini-series is scheduled to air in mid-July - less than six weeks away. This upcoming incitement against the Jewish people that will be seen by perhaps hundreds of millions of Arabs.

While it was condemned by the Middle East Foundation of Peace and Justice, still not a single major "human rights" NGO has condemned this upcoming hatefest on Arab TV.

If NGOs, governments in the EU and others who say they want peace in the Middle East cannot bring themselves to unequivocally condemn this blatant example of Jew-hatred that will be broadcast to so many, how can Israel expect any of them to treat it honestly and fairly?

Indeed, how can Israel be expected to treat these NGOs with any respect when they refuse to condemn even the most vicious examples of Arab and Islamic Jew-hatred?

I just started a Change.Org petition to convince Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to condemn this mini-series. Please visit and sign, and tell your friends to do it as well. If HRW and Amnesty must be shamed into doing what their own mandates require, so be it.

Saeb Erekat, in the middle of one of his many bizarre anti-Israel interviews filled with lies, mentioned in passing that some 1400 Palestinian Arabs have been killed in Syria since the uprising began.

In an interview on a Dubai TV show Erekat also said that Israel wanted to assassinate Abbas, that Fatah was ready for a new era of responsible and transparent government without corruption, and that Israel killed Yassir Arafat because of his "attachment to Jerusalem and the refugee issue and Palestinian rights."

I think that the statistic of 1400 Palestinian Arabs killed in Syria is pretty accurate, proving the adage that even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Sunday Links

From Ian:

Sarah Honig: The light from London

Already then, in Israel’s scariest neonatal hours, Britain played a proactive role in Arab plans to throw us into the sea.
The best-trained Arab army, the Jordanian Arab Legion, was established and organized on official orders from London by Maj.-Gen. Frederick G. Peake (a.k.a. Peake Pasha). In 1939, Peake was replaced by Lancashire-born Lt.-Gen. John Bagot Glubb (a.k.a. Glubb Pasha), who remained the legion’s commander until 1956. Glubb led the 1948 Arab Legion’s invasion of Israel and engineered the legion’s conquest of east Jerusalem, in direct contravention of the UN Partition Resolution.
British aircraft bombed and strafed Israel’s underdog fledgling forces. We won’t mention Britain’s pre-state refusal of asylum to desperate Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Europe nor Britain’s hunt on the high seas postwar for Holocaust survivors and their incarceration for years under appalling conditions in Cyprus prison camps.

A story the BBC will not tell

On June 10th 1948 Mishmar HaYarden finally fell to the Syrian army. Fourteen of its defenders had been killed and the twenty-nine men and women who remained were taken prisoner by the Syrians. They remained prisoners of war for thirteen months until the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1949. Once released, they found that they had nowhere to return to: their village of 58 years had been razed to the ground by the Syrians.
Mishmar HaYarden was eventually re-established as a moshav, some 2 km to the south-west of its original site. Tens of other communities were also depopulated during the War of Independence due to attacks by the invading armies from surrounding Arab countries, including those in Gush Etzion, some in the Negev and the Jordan Valley and several Jerusalem neighbourhoods. That aspect of the War of Independence is not mentioned in the BBC’s narrative of events.

Saudis, Gulf states ‘unnerved by US pivot away from Middle East’

The concern: America’s regional allies are reading clear signs of the superpower’s desire to disentangle itself from the region. Despite criticism, the US has done little to affect the course of battle in the Syrian civil war. And despite repeated requests from allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Obama administration has declined to order military action to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, instead opting for continued diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. Middle Eastern allies have also noted the administration’s much-discussed strategic “pivot” away from what many administration officials view as the distractions of the Middle East to the more geopolitically weighty issues related to the growing influence of China.

Iran's Arak reactor looms in Israeli, Western view

Iran aims to start a reactor next year which the West fears could arm an atomic bomb. Israel, which has bombed such construction sites around the Middle East before, may try to stop the plant being completed.

Boston, London, Paris attacks highlight al Qaeda shift in tactics

Intelligence agencies that have succeeded in thwarting many of al Qaeda's plans for spectacular attacks are struggling to combat the terror network's strategy of encouraging followers to keep to themselves, use off-the-shelf weapons and strike when they see an opportunity.
In recent weeks — at the Boston marathon, in the streets of London and in the shadow of one of Paris' most recognizable monuments — young men allegedly carried out attacks with little help, using inexpensive, widely available knives and explosives from everyday ingredients. In each of the attacks, suspects had previously been flagged to law enforcement and deemed not to be a priority.

Iraq uncovers al-Qaeda 'chemical weapons plot'

The authorities in Iraq say they have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America.
Defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.

PMW: Israeli cities misrepresented as "Palestine" in song on Arab Idol

Cities in Israel misrepresented as "Palestine" in PA TV - VIDEO

Iran Slashing Hamas Funding

The British Daily Telegraph reports that Hamas, which rules Gaza, is paying a heavy price in lost aid over its assistance to the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Iran has made a meaningful cut in its aid to Hamas, which had previously reached amounts as large as 15 million Australian dollars per month.

Russia Blocks Security Council Statement on Syria

Russia on Saturday blocked a United Nations Security Council declaration of alarm over the bloody siege of the Syrian town of al-Qusayr by Syrian troops and Hizbullah terrorists.

Radical Qaradawi Calls for 'Jihad' Against Syria and Hizbullah

Radical Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has called on Sunni Muslims to join the rebels fighting the Syrian regime, AFP reported on Saturday.
Qaradawi lashed out at the Shiite terror group Hizbullah for sending its men to fight the mostly-Sunni insurgents in Syria.

MEMRI: Deputy Leader of Hizbullah Naim Qassem: Hizbullah Is Ready to Participate in Fighting in Golan VIDEO

Lawlessness, Blackouts Roil Egypt As U.S. Warns Against Pyramids Tourism

Lawlessness has become so endemic in Egypt that the U.S. Embassy this week warned Americans away from visiting the country’s famed pyramids. A academic teaching at the American University in Cairo received an email from the embassy warning of “aggressiveness [that] in some cases is closer to criminal conduct… with angry groups of individuals surrounding and pounding on [vehicles]… and in some cases attempting to open the vehicle’s doors.” The warning lined up with the professor’s observations:

Egyptian legislature illegally elected, court rules

Egypt’s highest court ruled on Sunday that the nation’s Islamist-dominated legislature and constitutional panel were illegally elected, dealing a serious blow to the legal basis of the Islamists’ hold on power.

Unprovoked Attack on Jews in Lyon

Anti-Semitism continues to plague France. According to local media outlets in Lyon, two Jewish residents of the city were attacked Saturday as they walked to a local synagogue.
The two were attacked by three men of Arab origin in an unprovoked, sudden assault.

Netafim Wins 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award

Netafim, the pioneer and global leader in drip and micro-irrigation technology and the world’s largest irrigation company, announced today it has been named the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award laureate. Netafim will receive the prestigious award at a World Water Week ceremony in Stockholm on September 3.

The Israeli “Old Macdonald” carrot starring in Moscow markets

Russians fell in love with the Israeli big carrot “Uncle Moses”, which is the Hebrew term “Old Macdonald” the old farmer figure from the Israeli western Negev.

Even a heart attack can make a Hamas member a "martyr"

From the Qassam Brigades (Hamas) website:

Military Communiqué

Al Qassam Brigades mourns the death of Mohammed Ishtaiwi

As Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzeddeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy ... Today, Al-Qassam Brigades mourn the death of the mujahed:

Mohammed Faisal Ishtaiwi [23 years old]

Gaza City – Gaza Strip

The mujahid passed away After heart attack on Friday 31/05/2013. He was martyred after a long bright path of jihad, hard work, struggle and sacrifice.

I remember the good old days where you had to be killed by an infidel to become a martyr. Now you can earn the 72 virgins after merely dying of a heart attack! Perhaps this is a special Quranic dispensation for Hamas members.

(Of course, it seems more likely that this was a work accident, or Hamas had a reason to kill this guy but to keep it quiet. Heart attacks in 23-year olds aren't too common.)

Egyptian bites Israeli wrestler at tournament

From YNet:

Israeli wrestler Ilana Kartysh won a gold medal Saturday in the Golden Grand Prix tournament in Italy, but her historical achievement was marred by a very unpleasant incident, when she was attacked by her Egyptian rival during the semi-final.

Kartysh, 22, who competed in the 67-kilogram weight category, made it to the semi-final after beating opponents from Hungary and Kazakhstan. There, she experienced a violent incident she won't be able forget for quite a long time.

In the semi-final, Kartysh met the African champion, Anas Mostafa of Egypt. At the beginning of the match, Mostafa refused to shake hands with her. During the fight, she broke two of the Israeli's fingers and bit her in the back – causing her to bleed. At the end of the match, unsurprisingly, she refused to shake hands with her again.

"I can't remember such dirty behavior in sports," Kartysh told Ynet after the fight. "In wrestling you must shake hands at the beginning of a match and at the end of a match. But not only did she refuse to shake my hand, she even broke my fingers and bit me until I began bleeding.

"On the ground, when she was on top of me, she just bit me. I have her teeth marks on my back, and I began bleeding too," the Israeli wrestler adds. "Because of her dirty behavior my desire to beat her grew stronger."

"From the beginning of the match, when she didn't come over to shake my hand – I knew something was wrong. I felt some kind of hatred towards me and I don’t know why, maybe it has to do with politics and maybe not, but it's never happened to me before. She really attacked me.

On her Facebook page, Kartysh says she cannot believe that the judges did not intervene during the attack.

But, she says, hearing the Hatikvah in the end made it all worthwhile.

Will there be a backlash in Egypt over Mostafa's not forfeiting the match?

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

PFLP warns of a "popular explosion" in Gaza against Hamas

The PFLP, one of the many terror groups operating in Gaza, has warned Hamas that its policies may result in a "popular explosion" against the ruling Islamist regime.

The organization cited Hamas' increasing violence in collecting taxes, as well as an increase in murders, suicides, robberies and drugs in Gaza.

On Friday alone, there were reports of a 60-year old shop owner in Khan Younis was stabbed to death, a man in Rafah set himself on fire, killing himself, and an unidentified body, showing signs of torture, was found dumped near the port of Gaza.

The PFLP also cited the actions Hamas has instigated against "offensive" hairstyles and clothing as well as its intolerance for popular demonstrations.

The PFLP is a secular/socialist organization.

It will be interesting to see how Hamas reacts to this.

One of these refugee populations is not like the other (chart)

I translated this excellent chart from a Norwegian blog:

This is the best way to demolish UNRWA's tired arguments that Palestinian Arab "refugees" are treated the same as every other refugee population worldwide.

(h/t Ruchie/BDY)

As I predicted - Al Aqsa Foundation accusations believed uncritically by media

Last week I noted that the Al Aqsa Foundation, a virulently antisemitic and anti-Israel organization that routinely lies to further its agenda, purportedly discovered a mass grave in Jaffa. Without any evidence, it accused Israel of being behind a massacre in 1948 that caused the deaths.

I noted that it is very possible that the dead were killed by other Arabs, or the British. As was pointed out in the comments, the British bulldozed many houses in Jaffa itself during the Arab revolt.

I ended off by saying:

We can expect that the Al Aqsa Foundation will continue to claim that the apparent Arab victims purportedly discovered in Jaffa could only have been killed by Jews. History shows that this is far from obvious, and when this story gets into the more mainstream media, lets hope that the reporters are smart enough not to swallow the lies from an organization that routinely lies to further its agenda.

Sure enough, the media swallowed the Al Aqsa Foundation's unsupported claims. From The Daily Mail:

It is possible that these were victims of Zionist forces, of course - but it is irresponsible to report it as undisputed fact without any evidence.

(AFP quotes an Arab as saying that he buried people killed in Jaffa over a number of months in the cemetery. It is possible, as people are killed during a war, but this is not a "massacre" as the Al aqsa Foundation claims.)

Saturday Links

From Ian:

Palestinian refugees burn Hezbollah aid

Lebanon: Angry Palestinians set fire Thursday to humanitarian aid donated by Hezbollah in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, citing the party’s role alongside the regime in Syria’s civil war.
A number of refugees gathered in front of the Kifah School in the camp and held banners explaining their decision to burn the boxes of aid, which Hezbollah is distributing in a number of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
“We don’t want assistance soaked in the blood of the Syrian people,” read one of the signs.

U.S. warned Europe of Hezbollah operations before terror attacks last year

The United States warned European governments about an “increased operational tempo” by Hezbollah there months before a wave of global terror attacks by the Lebanese extremist group last year, a senior administration official said Friday.
“We were already in the spring of 2012 having numerous conversations with European governments about the danger that Hezbollah was posing, and that was on the basis of information we were aware of that indicated an increased operational tempo in Europe,” the official said, requiring anonymity even though he was speaking on a conference call for reporters organized by administration press officers.

Hamas's Mashaal: Assad Refused to Accept Political Solution

The Hamas terrorist group left Syria because President Bashar Al-Assad refused to consider a political solution to the conflict in the country, its leader Khaled Mashaal said. !!

British Inaction on Threats Risks the Rise of Anti-Semitism, Israelis Say

Israel is becoming a bit fed up with Britain’s inaction when it comes to combating threats against its officials and other pro-Israel entities, and the Jewish state is beginning to voice its discontent in the public sphere.
“You have to wonder at what point does inaction become anti-Semitism,” one Israeli official told the Daily Telegraph. “If Israelis of an Argentinian background threatened the British ambassor in Israel to the point that he could not make speeches, we would be getting demands from the Foreign Office to step in. Yet the government has done nothing to prevent the threats we face since it took office.”

David Cameron backed organisation had Woolwich suspect as speaker

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron is a founding signatory of the far-left, extremist Unite Against Fascism (UAF) organisation, which has previously attacked political opponents with darts and clawhammers and has been involved in many violent confrontations with the British police.
In the video footage, Michael Adebolajo, can be seen whipping up a largely young Muslim crowd attending a UAF demonstration outside Harrow mosque on the eighth anniversary of 9/11 before they violently attacked the British police. The purple banners of UAF can clearly be seen at the demonstration.

French Media Embraces Film that Promotes ‘Zionist Conspiracy’ Theory

A new French film being promoted in French media claims of a worldwide conspiracy by “oligarchs” to claim a “new world order,” and the Jews are at the center of the story.
Advertisements for the film, “Oligarchy and Zionism,” directed by Beatrice Pignede, have even been accepted by respected French media outlets such as Le Figaro, Le Nouvel Observateur, and Liberation.

ADL to Create Global Anti-Semitism Index with $7.5 Million, 3-Year Grant

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said it has received a three-year, $7.5 million grant to create a Global Anti-Semitism Index, an annual barometer of anti-Semitic attitudes around the world.
The new index will measure anti-Semitic attitudes in 50 countries around the world, with additional countries being added in each subsequent year. The project builds on ADL’s past polling efforts, first introduced in 1964. Its polls have been conducted regularly in the United States and in as many as 12 countries in Europe since 2002.

Pro-Israel New Yorkers Protest 92nd St Y’s anti-Israel Speaker

Richard Allen of JCC Watch said, "There has been a pattern - first with [BDS activist] Roger Waters and now with Alice Walker. All of our efforts to speak with the 92nd Street Y administrators have been met with closed doors, closed ears and closed minds."

Istanbul residents accuse police of ‘massacre’ at protest against park demolition

Turkish riot police used tear gas and water cannons Friday to end a peaceful sit-in by hundreds of people trying to prevent trees from being uprooted in an Istanbul park. The dawn raid ignited a furious anti-government protest that took over the city’s main square and spread to other cities, culminating in what Turkish Facebook users described as a “massacre” which unfolded amid clouds of tear gas.

Protests Show Turks Can't Tolerate Erdogan Anymore

Despite having its genesis in the Gezi Park movement, the dynamics of the protests now reflect many of the fundamental antagonisms in Turkey's imperfect democracy. Erdogan's divisive rhetoric and his penchant for authoritarian rule have steadily eroded the party's support from small constituencies that it could once count on.

IDF Blog: Chief of Staff and Soldiers Congratulate the IDF on its 65th Birthday

Strong US Support for Israel is Deeply Rooted

The special ties between the US and the Jewish State are uniquely driven by people-to-people, bottom-up relationship, shaped by the American public more than by the American government. US ties with the Jewish state have been exceptionally-forged by shared Judeo-Christian values.

Alicia Keys to perform in Israel despite boycott calls

Pop star Alicia Keys announced Friday that she plans to go ahead with her scheduled July 4 concert in Tel Aviv, despite calls to cancel the show for political reasons.
“I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show,” Keys said in a statement to the New York Times.

Editors admit Arab media has no journalistic standards

From Al Arabiya:

The editor of the world’s biggest pan-Arab newspaper has hit out against Middle Eastern journalists, saying they lack objectivity and are “more politicized than you would ever imagine”.

Adel al-Toraifi, the editor-in-chief of the London-based Asharq al-Awsat, slammed media standards in the Arab world, claiming that many journalists let their personal views get in the way of the story.

“Journalists in the Middle East are political activists. They are not true journalists,” said al-Toraifi.

“Whenever you open a discussion, instead of it becoming a fact-checking debate about journalism, it somehow disintegrates into a political exchange. [It’s] the extreme siding, or the extreme manipulation… either victimization of one group or demonization of another.”

Al-Toraifi called for “more professionalism” among regional journalists.

“It’s not a problem for any journalist to have views… You can respect human rights, but you should not transform into a political-rights activist, or a lobbying person, at the expense of your own journalism and reporting,” he said.

The problem is most severe among private media channels, compared with those under government control, al-Toraifi said.

“I think some satellite [TV stations] and some newspapers in the past 10 years have done more damage than what government-sponsored media has done in the past six decades,” he said. “When it was sponsored by the government it had, somehow, some red lines. When it wasn’t sponsored [by the government] it indulged itself in demonizing schemes… You would be reading something which cannot stand in a court in Europe or America. It’s a kind of reporting which is not reporting.”

Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief of Gulf News, broadly agreed that some media outlets in the Arab world lack objectivity.

“We must stick to standards of ethical journalism and apply them to our practice. Many outlets talk about ethical journalism but don’t practice it… Some Lebanese TV channels are regularly highlighting figures that promote sectarianism rather than condemn it,” he said.

“I don’t think it is ethical to shed light on figures promoting sectarianism. It is perfectly acceptable for sectarianism to be discussed in an analytical manner, but not to be promoted in a way that dangerously stirs public opinion”.

Standards have declined in the wake of the Arab Spring, Ahmad added.

“Objective journalism is descending due to tightening rules on journalists, especially after the recent acceleration of events over the past five years, and the lack of clarity in attitudes,” he said. “Instead of having a social dialogue about events and incidents, most opinions are rather eliminating or eradicating each other”.

Asharq al-Awsat isn't too bad as far as Arab media go, but Gulf News has no problem printing out-and-out lies.

Friday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Latma: Europe responds to its random violence and Shimon's World of Fun!

Israel ‘the most threatened state in the world,’ says PM

Facing the threat of thousands of enemy rockets, Israel’s home front is more vulnerable than ever, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday at a meeting concluding this week’s home front drill, which tested the country’s readiness for chemical and conventional rocket attacks.
“We are deep in the era of missiles that are aimed at civilian population areas,” Netanyahu said during a meeting of the Emergency Economy Committee. “We must prepare defensively and offensively for the new era of warfare. The State of Israel is the most threatened state in the world. Around us are tens of thousands of missiles and rockets that could hit our home front.”

Muslims Combating Anti-Semitism

A small, but increasingly vocal number of Muslims are rejecting radical hate speech and combating anti-Semitism in the Muslim world. In the recent Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism held this week in Jerusalem, Palestinian Media Watch director, Itamar Marcus and Dr. Boaz Ganor organized a panel discussion with Muslim activists actively rejecting hate rhetoric.

Expert: Holocaust Denial is Prevalent and Dangerous

Holocaust denial is another form of anti-Semitism which is prevalent today and must be fought, Dr. Mario Silva told Arutz Sheva.
Dr. Silva, chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, took part in the 4th conference of the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism which was held in Jerusalem this week.

After state panel's Mohammed al-Dura report, France 2 hits back at Israeli government

France 2 TV and its correspondent Charles Enderlin are threatening to take legal action if Israel does not hand over all information collected by government panel on Palestinian boy killed in intifada.

Douglas Murray: After Woolwich, what will change?

The decapitation of a British soldier on a street in London is the latest disgusting new low in this country’s experience of Islamist terror. But everything else in the aftermath of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby is hideously familiar. What the country has gone through since last Wednesday is the same endless turning over of clichés about terror which we have now heard for years. But one thing is clear. Nothing will be done. This country simply will not deal with the extremists. Not just because part of our political leadership does not want us to, but because those who do want to do something cannot.

Memri: Inspire Praises Woolwich Beheading As 'Vengeance'

In an article titled "The Dear Price and the Constant Turmoil", which appears in the 11th issue of Al-Qaeda in the Arabia Peninsula's (AQAP) Inspire Magazine, a writer going by the nickname Muhammad Al-San'ani praises the perpetrators of the Woolwich attack and the Boston bombing, which he defines as vengeance for Muslims killed by Westerners. He encourages Muslims to emulate these attacks in order to drown the West in "turmoil."

Australian Islamist justifies 9/11 and terrorist attacks VIDEO

Muslim Blood More Dear than That of Western Victims

Memorial to be Unveiled for Israeli Attack Victims in Burgas

A memorial will be erected in the Bulgarian seaside town of Burgas, where a bus bombing at Sarafovo airport killed five Israeli tourists last year.
The July 18, 2012 attack, which is widely blamed on the Hizbullah terror organization, resulted in the murder of five Israelis, including a pregnant woman, a Bulgarian bus driver, and the alleged perpetrator of the attack.

Israeli scientists match Cairo Geniza fragments

A team of computer scientists and programmers in Jerusalem, working in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, says it has achieved a breakthrough in piecing together the disparate fragments of the Cairo Geniza.

Canada’s oldest synagogue celebrates 150

A grand ceremony to dedicate British Columbia’s first synagogue will be reenacted on June 2, exactly 150 years to the day following the establishment of Congregation Emanu-El in downtown Victoria, the picturesque capital of Canada’s western-most province.

‘Weeds’ star forgoes suburbia for an unrecognized stint in the desert

Just a year later, Alexander Gould, the actor who played Shane from the age of 10 through 18, was sitting in a bare bones kiosk in Yeruham, sipping a bottle of peach-flavored Fuze, his favored soft drink during the 10 months he spent living in Israel while on the Nativ College Leadership program. He was at the tail end of his stay, having spent the last four months living in the Negev desert town teaching English to local elementary school kids.

Israeli scientists develop bionic eye for people born blind

The bionic lens stimulates the corneal nerves in the eye’s external part, which are connected in the brain to areas that process sensory information.
The compressed information is transmitted, after being electrically amplified, from the minute camera by wireless technology to a bionic contact lens in the eye. The proposed lens will have some 10,000 tiny electrodes enabling cornea stimulation. “The cornea is the richest eye part in sensory nerves and has tens of thousands of sensory points to which the tiny electrodes on the lens can connect with,” says Zalevsky. (h/t Zvi)

‘Waze sale to Facebook crashes over relocation dispute’

It appears that the Facebook-Waze deal — in which the world’s largest social network would acquire the world’s most popular social mapping app for drivers — is off.
Reports on several tech websites Thursday said that talks between the two companies had broken down, apparently over the insistence by Facebook that Waze relocate its operations abroad, and Waze’s insistence that it remain in Israel, the sources said.

Your secret is safe with IBM Haifa

When your bank outsources customer service to India, how can the financial institution ensure that your data won’t fall into the wrong hands so far away from headquarters?
And what if your HMO shares files with an outside pharmaceutical research firm and inadvertently reveals your chronic illness?

Israeli-Developed ‘Earthquake Proof Table’ Added to MOMA Permanent Collection (VIDEO)

The “Earthquake Proof Table,” was a project conceived at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. MOMA’s board recently inducted the “Earthquake Proof Table” into its permanent collection at the department of architecture and design.

Israel, Cyprus in underwater electricity cable deal

The so-called "Euro-Asia Interconnect," with a capacity to transfer 2,000 MW, is "a historic event -- no more Israel as an economic island," Israel Electric Corporation CEO Yiftach Ron Tal said at the signing.
Additional underwater cables are to connect Cyprus and mainland Europe via Greece, which was also part of the agreement signed in the Jerusalem bureau of Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau.

IDF Blog: Celebrating 65 Years of Defense

May 31st, 1948: On this day, 65 years ago, Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, founded the Israel Defense Forces. It hasn't always been easy, but over the past six and a half decades, we IDF soldiers have never wavered: looking danger in the eyes, confronting fear with bravery, and making the impossible possible. We do not take our responsibility lightly. We have the sole duty of protecting the existence of the State of Israel, and we promise to pass this sense of duty and devotion on to future generations of soldiers.
Happy Birthday, IDF

Hamas celebrating Mavi Marmara deaths

This is not much of an exaggeration.

Hamas "Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Ghazi Hamad, spoke at an event today to mark the third anniversary of Israel's raid on a Gaza flotilla. He seemed to be very happy that nine IHH members were killed.

Hamad said that as a result of the incident, Turkish relations with Hamas are the best they have ever been. he also said that the raid resulted in "a quantum leap for the expulsion and isolation of the Israeli occupation and Israel is more isolated than ever."

Kemal Ataturk, a former adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan who attended the ceremony, declared that "Turkey will not accept the Israeli apology, and there will be no normalization; we do not reconcile with the occupation, before lifting the siege on Gaza." He also lied when he said "The Turkish ship was a humanitarian initiative carrying aid, with the aim of ending the inhumane blockade of Gaza" - in fact, the Mavi Marmara had no aid.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman at the ceremony said that the dead Turks achieved far more than they had hoped for - for they have achieved martyrdom.

The Gaza speakers sure sound like they belong to a death cult.