Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, June 07, 2013

Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

An Honest Answer to John Kerry’s Question to American Jewry

Is Kerry asking American Jews to pressure their Israeli counterparts to respond positively to Abbas’s outrageous demands? The last time Israel wandered down that path, with the settlement freeze of 2009, the Jewish state was met with yet more recalcitrance from Abbas.
In truth the onus is on Abbas, and in that regard, to paraphrase, “No one has a weaker voice in this than the American Jewish community.”
The real question to be asked here is by American Jewry to John Kerry. Ma nishtana, why are you any different from all those who instinctively hold the Jews responsible for everything that is wrong in the Middle East.

Palestinians campaign to regain 'occupied' Latrun

One Israeli official was stunned by the Palestinian campaign over Latrun, saying it was as if the Palestinians were moving the goal line backwards.
Referring to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s push to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the official said, “It’s almost as if every time we move forward, or every time there is a prospect of moving forward, the Palestinians bring up an issue which they know is a game breaker.”
The Palestinian decision to make this an issue, the official continued, “raises concerns as to their seriousness.”

The Palestinian Excuse Machine

In every peace plan put forward by peace groups as well as the Israeli government’s offers of statehood to the Palestinians, the Jewish areas of East Jerusalem remain part of Israel. The Palestinians know that even in the most generous distribution of territory – including the one put forward by former prime minister Ehud Olmert in 2008 that called for the abandonment of the Old City by Israel – Ramot and Gilo and other such neighborhoods are not going to be handed over to them and emptied of their Jewish inhabitants.

Barry Rubin: Obama Middle East Policy: Wrong Team, Wrong Ideas

In the Middle East, to paraphrase President Barack Obama's mentor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the dodo birds are coming home to roost.
At this moment, the administration's policy team consists of CIA director John Brennan, father of the ""moderate" Islamism-and-the-Muslim Brotherhood-are-good school; the Secretary of State John Kerry who thinks he is going to make Israel-Palestinian peace in one month; the know-nothing Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel; the chilling ideologue Samantha Powers as UN ambassador; and the dupe of the Benghazi scandal Susan Rice rewarded by being made national security adviser.

Samantha Power, U.N. Nominee, Highlights Obama’s Genocide Problem

The nomination of Samantha Power for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations has drawn the Jewish community’s attention to her controversial 2002 remark about hypothetical U.S. action against Israel to protect Palestinians from genocide. But Power’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate is also likely to address a broader question: How can lawmakers judge her record on responding to genocide, when the government agency she has headed for the past year has no office, no staff, no phone number, and no public record of taking any action to fulfill its stated mission—to prevent atrocities in Darfur and elsewhere around the world?

Leading Arab journalist sympathizes with Bin Laden

A leading Arab journalist expressed sympathy with former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, considering him only “half a terrorist” in a television interview published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Asked whether he believed Bin Laden was a terrorist, Abdel Bari Atwan, editor in chief of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, told Egypt’s ONtv TV channel June 2 that the Saudi terrorist leader was “half a terrorist,” since his organization’s attacks against American forces in Saudi Arabia could not be considered terrorism.

Galon Upset Over Ban of Inciting PA Official

Meretz chair blasts the Defense Ministry for refusing to allow PA official who called to nuke Israel take part in her party's conference.
MK Zehava Galon, head of the extreme leftist Meretz party, blasted the Defense Ministry on Thursday for preventing the participation of Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub at the party’s conference this coming Sunday.

Meretz's Darling: Netanyahu is a Dog

Video shows Meretz's would-be guest Jibril Rajoub denouncing "Jews, Satans, Zionist sons of bitches.”

Senior Fatah official: Palestinians suffered more from Munich killings

Senior Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Olympic committee, claimed Thursday that the Palestinians had suffered three times as much as the Israelis because of the 1972 Munich attacks.

IDF Files Complaint With UN as Syrian Tanks Enter Golan Demilitarized Zone

Israel has filed a complaint with the UN after it was reported Thursday morning that Syrian tanks had entered the demilitarized zone in the vicinity of the Quneitra crossing. The move would be in violation of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries.

Dozens of Syrians try to flee fighting into Israel

Syrians fleeing fierce fighting near the Israeli-Syrian border tried to escape through the Quneitra border crossing into Israel on Thursday. IDF soldiers sheltered the civilians within buildings at the crossing, then sent them back into Syria when they determined it was safe to do so.
In addition, the Israeli military told The Times of Israel that three mortars had fallen in open areas on the northern and central Golan Heights on Thursday. No damages or injuries were reported.

Jordan threatens to expel Syrian envoy

US ally Jordan threatened on Thursday to expel Syria's ambassador, after he warned the kingdom Syrian missiles could be used against Patriot batteries due to be deployed soon along their border.

Bulgaria: No Backtrack over Burgas

Bulgaria denied Thursday backtracking over whether Hizbullah was behind a bomb attack last July on its soil that killed five Israelis, saying earlier comments were misinterpreted, AFP reported.
"Bulgaria has not revised its stance on the terrorist act," Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin was cited in a statement as telling Ireland's ambassador to Sofia, John Rowan, in talks.

Kerry quietly approved $1.3 billion in arms to Egypt

US Secretary of State John Kerry quietly approved sending $1.3 billion in arms to Egypt in May, waiving the requirements of a US law meant to promote democratic development in the post-revolutionary country.

Unrepentant Norwegian paper claims reaction to its gory cartoon is ‘similar to Mohammed riots’

The Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet said reactions to its caricature on circumcision “are similar” to riots that erupted over cartoons mocking Mohammed.
Referencing Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten caricatures of Mohammed in 2005, Dagbladet wrote in a statement: “We now have similar reactions to a cartoon that Dagbladet printed last week.”

Stadium full of Jew-haters in Cairo

Al Ahram reports:

Egyptian Islamist groups gathered at the Cairo Stadium on the 46th anniversary of the occupation of eastern Jerusalem by Israeli forces in condemnation of the Israeli occupation and the Judaization of Jerusalem.

The protest started after Friday prayers at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo's Nasr City district. Salah Sultan, secretary general of Al-Azhar's Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, who led the Friday sermon at the mosque, said Prime Minister Hesham Kandil will attend the rally.

Thousands of protesters marched from the mosque to the nearby stadium, according to Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.

Al Dostor reports that 27 Muslim nations held events today to "liberate Jerusalem" from Jewish control in 27 nations.

Thousands of Egyptians marched from the mosque in Nasr City to Cairo International Stadium, where they were heard speeches by Egyptian political figures. They also were led to chant "Khyber, Khyber, O Jews, the army of Mohammed will return," a reference to a massacre of Jews by early Muslims.

Other slogans were pro-Hamas.

One speaker said that the problem with a potential Palestinian Arab state in the West Bank and Gaza is that it would only encompass 22% of "Palestine."

A Muslim Brotherhood leader declared "We are facing a Zionist project that is broken and defeated, and we will win in Syria and then conquer Jerusalem."

At the mosque before the march, the preacher said "The Jews do not reign, they will not benefit, and their faith is a waste of the blood of every Muslim."

Hamas says how horrible it was to co-exist with Jews

I just came across this article on the Hamas interior ministry website, originally published in Hamas newspaper Felesteen.

When I was a little kid in the seventies we would attend demonstrations on the occasion of Land Day, or the anniversary of the Nakba, and I would hear people shouting: "Khyber Khyber O Jews, Muhammad's Army will be back." At the time we heard this chanting, Palestine was far from Islam. Women wore scandalous short clothes, and grocery stores sold liquor in public, and the Jews were coming every Saturday shopping at our markets and walking safely in our streets. The Jewish employers would share their happy occasions with their Palestinian workers, dancing with them and drinking liquor and beer at weddings together. The ideas that were prevalent at the time were closer to Kafr (heresy) than to the faith, such as: Arab nationalism, communism and secularism. Even so, the chants could be heard throughout Palestine: "Khyber Khyber O Jews, Muhammad's Army will be back."

After discussing the history of the massacre of Jews in Khyber, the author says that the Arab Spring Islamic revolutions were sparked by Hamas in Gaza, and he has no doubt that soon we will hear all Arab nations chanting ""Khyber Khyber O Jews, Muhammad's Army will be back."

Anyone who still thinks that Hamas' goals are anything but genocidal needs to read this. Again and again.

Syrian MP threatens Israel, Jordan - and Spain!

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian MP Ahmad Shlash, which aired on Mayadeen TV on May 28, 2013.

Ahmad Shlash: You call this an "[Arab] Spring"? It's not even an autumn. This is the Grim Reaper coming to Syria to harvest souls.

Interviewer: This is because President Assad is clinging to his seat.

Ahmad Shlash: It is we who are clinging to him, not him to his seat. We will not allow him to leave this seat. Our slogan has only three words: Allah, Syria, and Bashar – and that's it. Whoever doesn't get it can go bank his head against a wall.

Interviewer: It is conceivable that a more qualified person cannot be found throughout Syria?

Ahmad Shlash: Let me tell you, throughout the Middle East and in the whole world, there are no men like President Bashar Al-Assad or Hassan Nasrallah. They are two of a kind. The rest can go and bury themselves in the ground – whether they come from Arab or non-Arab countries.
[…]
Interviewer: It seems that Qatar and Saudi Arabia will take part in this international conference.

Ahmad Shlash: I hope that they will.

Interviewer: Why?

Ahmad Shlash: So our boys can shove one shoe into Qatar's mouth and the other into Saudi Arabia's. We want to meet them face to face.

Interviewer: I ask you to watch your language.

Ahmad Shlash: Fine, we'll keep it off air. No problem.

Interviewer: You are responsible for what you say.

Ahmad Shlash: Absolutely. One million percent.

Interviewer: Mayadeen TV is not responsible for this.

Ahmad Shlash: Absolutely. It's not your fault.

Interviewer: We will return after a short break.
[…]
Ahmad Shlash: We have only one president – Bashar – and Allah willing, Hafez will succeed him.

Interviewer: What Hafez? President Bashar's son?

Ahmad Shlash: Of course. I'm free to say what I want.

Interviewer: Again, you are responsible for what you say…

Ahmad Shlash: Absolutely. Very much. Let me tell you something. Someone said to the Syrian opposition: "My brothers in the opposition, if you are unhappy with the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad, maybe you will be more content with the rule of his son Hafez." Let us be patient.
[…]
Interviewer: Is the Syrian army capable of opening another front, against Israel, today, when it is up to its neck in all that is happening?

Ahmad Shlash: Just wait and see. Missiles require nothing but the push of a button. It's not that hard. Of course, the Jews are afraid that the honorable Lebanese resistance – the men of Allah [Hizbullah] – will open a front from here [in Lebanon], and the men of Al-Assad will open another front from Syria. Thousands, or tens of thousands, of missiles will rain upon Israel, and possibly, because of Syria, Israel will be completely annihilated.

Let them try us. Let them hold military maneuvers. Jordan is also conducting maneuvers with 18 countries, including Arab ones. Against whom is Jordan conducting these maneuvers? It has peace with Israel. What about the maneuvers of Al-Assad? The lion is always prepared. But they have mice, not lions.

Let me ask you a question, Salma. A country like Jordan, with an old peace treaty with Israel – from even before the [official] peace accords – against whom is it conducting military maneuvers? I understand a country that conducts maneuvers because it has an enemy, but who is your enemy, Jordan? Is it Syria? By Allah, you are playing with fire.
[…]
We have warned Jordan. I am sure our people in Iran have also warned Jordan not to play with fire. But they are free. If they want to continue playing with fire, let's see what happens when they go to sleep in their bedroom.
[…]
If they want an all-out war – so be it. The Syrian Arab army… Let me tell you something, Salma. As long as we are led by President Bashar, we will go to the end of the world. I do not exclude the possibility that with the men of Allah, we will regain Andalusia one of these days.
[…]

for those who don't know, Many Muslims consider Andalusia to be Spanish-occupied Muslim territory.

Austria pulls its UNDOF troops out of Syria

From AFP:

The UN force in the Golan Heights was thrown into disarray after Austria withdrew its troops and two peacekeepers were injured as Syrian government and rebel fighters battled for a border crossing.

Peacekeepers from the Philippines and India were wounded by mortar shrapnel as the Syrians fought for the strategic crossing, according to diplomats.

UN leaders held emergency talks to replace the 377 Austrian troops who make up more than a third of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which has monitored a ceasefire between Israel and Syria since 1974.

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger called UN chief Ban Ki-moon to tell him of the withdrawal, said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

"The secretary general is concerned about the potential consequences of such a withdrawal on the peacekeeping operation and also on regional security, and in that regard, he regrets the decision that has been taken," Nesirky added.

That's the funny thing about UN "peacekeeping" troops: they only deter nations who want peace, and anyone who doesn't turns them effectively into human shields.

Remaining Christian schools in Gaza face closure by Hamas

From Catholic Herald:

Five schools in Gaza – two Catholic and three Christian – face closure if the Hamas government follows through on an order forbidding co-educational institutions, according to the director general of Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine and Israel.

Fr Faysal Hijazin said: “This will be a big problem. We hope they will not go through with it, but if they do, we will be in big trouble. We don’t have the space and we don’t have the money to divide our schools.”

In addition to finding additional space, he said, the schools face having to hire more teachers. Men and women teachers would not be allowed to teach classes of the opposite sex older than 10 under Islamic law.

“We will never accept this even if we have to close the schools,” Fr Hijazin said.

He said Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem hoped to speak with Gaza’s prime minister, Ismail Haniya, to discuss the Church’s concerns.

The patriarchate administers the Latin Patriarchate School, with 370 students, and the Holy Family School, with 650 students. In addition, the Rosary Sisters operate their own school. The majority of the students enrolled in the schools are Muslim.

Four of Holy Family School’s recent graduates are Christian.

Fr Hijazin said that although the order did not specifically single out the Christian schools, the five are the only schools with mixed enrolment in Gaza.

What a coincidence that the only schools affected by Hamas' new rule are all Christian!

(h/t Benny)

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Daniel Pipes: Happy Israel

Listen up, anti-Zionists and anti-Semites, Palestinians and Islamists, extreme right- and left-wingers: You are fighting a losing battle; the Jewish state is prevailing. As Inbar rightly concludes, "Time seems to be on Israel's side." Give up and find some other country to torment.

France's 1st gay married couple to attend TA Pride

The first gay couple to be legally wed in France will spend the upcoming weekend in Tel Aviv and will attend the city's Gay Pride Parade as part of their Honeymoon celebrations, a Tel Aviv Municipality spokesperson announced Thursday.
Vincent Autin and Bruno Boileau were invited by Tel Aviv's Global & Tourism Company. Tel Aviv promotes gay rights as a pluralistic city and is happy to host the newly-wed couple, wishing them a big "mazal tov," the statement read.

CAMERA: Where's the Coverage? Gaza Youth Flee TO Israel

Surprising, then, that Al Monitor reports young men from Gaza are fleeing TO Israel, seeking the opportunities available in the Jewish state. Yes, fleeing to Israel, even knowing that they might be apprehended and detained.

The Secret Military Unit Behind Israel’s Stunning Six Day War Victory

One of the key factors which led to the success of the military operation in general, and the air strikes in particular, was the collection of data and information by Israel’s intelligence units in the years which preceded the war. One of the most intriguing episodes revealed here for the first time is related to unit 504 (then 154) of the Military Intelligence. The unit was and still is responsible for detecting, recruiting, and running agents – a tradecraft known as “humint”.

IDF Blog: 6 Photos From the 6-Day War You’ve Never Seen Before

In the Six-Day War (June 5-10, 1967), the IDF fought some of the defining battles of Israeli history and of the 20th Century. But what happened during preparation beforehand, and during those six days in between the battles? These are the people who fought for Israel’s freedom – some famous, some not – and six very heartfelt moments that happened behind the headlines.

Terror victim's father demands Norway take action against PA salaries to terrorists

Israeli Arnold Roth is on his way to Parliament to tell a story of terror. His daughter Malki never made it past her 15th year because a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in this pizza restaurant in Jerusalem in 2001. The person responsible for making the bomb - Abdullah Barghouti - is now in Israeli prison. Palestine honors hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many terrorists, with a monthly salary. Abdullah Barghouti receives every month 10,000 [Norwegian] kroners from Palestine.

CAMERA: What the Media Won't Tell You About Palestinian Prisoners

All too often, mainstream media outlets have whitewashed the terrorist acts and violent crimes of Palestinian prisoners by failing to mention the crimes at all or by falsely minimizing the degree of violence. In some cases, media outlets euphemistically refer to prisoners incarcerated since before 1994 as "political prisoners," covering up the atrocities they carried out. CAMERA is the first to publish a detailed list (below), obtained from Israel's Ministry of Justice, of 118 pre-Oslo Palestinian prisoners, including their names and violent crimes.

IDF Blog: 8 weapon seizures you didn’t hear about from May 2013

Every day of the year, the IDF works towards preventing terror and keeping the citizens of Israel safe. In May, IDF forces seized a large number of illegal weapons and apprehended the would-be terrorists in possession of them. Thanks to the work of the IDF, here are 8 weapon seizures you didn’t hear about from the month of May.

Arab Stone-Throwing Attacks on Jews are Daily Occurrence in East Jerusalem

Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Kobi Dudian of the Jerusalem District Police told the Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee on Wednesday that 207 stone-throwing perpetrators have been arrested in eastern Jerusalem in 2013, the majority of whom were minors, and that only 47 of them were detained, pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings against them.

Group of teens attacks rabbi in Germany

A group of youths attacked a rabbi on Sunday evening in Offenbach, a city near Franfurt.
Six to eight “Mediterranean looking“ youths attacked the 39-year-old Rabbi Mendel Gurewitz. The youths pushed the rabbi and called him a “shitty Jew.

ZOA Opposes Samantha Power's Nomination as UN Ambassador

“As her own words show, Ms. Power indulges in astonishing false equivalence between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). She clearly has difficulty in appreciating the distinction between a law-based, free society and democracy like Israel that is defending itself from those who seek its elimination, and a terror-sponsoring, terrorist-glorifying, violence-inculcating PA that has neither signed peace with Israel nor recognized Israel as a Jewish state,” he said.

Melanie Phillips: A perfect match

And despite her advocacy of attack or invasion to prevent threatened genocides, she has sneered at concerns about the race to build a nuclear bomb by Iran, which has repeatedly threatened genocide against the Jews of Israel, as a figment of the war-mongering Republican imagination.
Samantha Power and the UN are thus a perfect match.

SodaStream Continues Uptick,Take That! BDSM Advocates

SodaStream is an Israeli company which has shaken up the soft drink business. Because its competitors are Coke and Pepsi, it has to take its business seriously. But because it is made in Israel, of course the organized world of Israel haters and those who support them have targeted SodaStream for boycotts and other economic mayhem.
But that is okay, because despite the efforts of the BDSM – anti-Israel economic and political warfare movement of Boycotts of, Divestment from and Sanctions Against Israel – to strangle SodaStream, the company’s profits just keep on growing.

Divestment from Israel Resolution Defeated at UC Santa Cruz

“We are pleased that a divestment resolution was once again defeated, this time at UC Santa Cruz. We applaud UCSC’s student senate for recognizing the complexity of the conflict and the bigotry in this resolution… Hopefully, next year, students who are obsessed with condemning Israel while they cover up the terrorism of Palestinian groups like Hamas, will consider more constructive actions and resolutions,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs.

Keshet, Northern Pictures launch Australian joint venture

Israeli producer-distributor Keshet International is teaming up former Fox Networks Group president David Haslingden to launch a local production outfit, Keshet Australia.
The company will be jointly owned by Keshet International and Haslingden’s indie Northern Pictures, and will bring the Israeli producer’s slate of 50 scripted and unscripted TV properties to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Grow cooperation with us, says Indian pol during Israel visit

Add India to that list, too, says Dr. Arvind Gupta, the head of technology affairs in India’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), the largest opposition party in the country. Although Israeli tech and business deals with other Asian countries — especially China — seem to grab most of the headlines, there is considerable trade between Israel and India. India is the largest purchaser of Israeli military equipment, and Israel is the second-largest military partner of India after Russia. In 2009, that business was was worth about $9 billion.

Israeli ‘bubble tech’ to help keep UK’s water clean

Mapal systems have been installed in Israel, as well as in Brazil, South Africa and India for a total of 30 locations worldwide. Now, the company has its first European contract, closing a deal with the UK’s Anglian Water to deploy its solution for a water company serving 4 million customers. Mapal’s bubble-spreaders will be installed in as many as 400 of Anglian’s 1,100 wastewater treatment facilities, the company said, adding that it is in “advanced talks” with other UK water treatment companies.

Israel Daily Picture: In Memory of Robert F. Kennedy on the 45th Anniversary of his Assassination

We leave our regular historical features to pay tribute to Robert Kennedy who was murdered on this day in 1968.
Several special features about Kennedy make this posting very appropriate for this site today:

Today's antisemitism from Palestine News Network

This op-ed tries really had to pretend to be only against Zionists, but its illustrative photo indicates its true target:

Yes, it is time for the (haredi) Jews to take over the Arab world again!

Zionism is the problem of this era, a cancer of the Islamic nation, ...(whose policy is) mostly based on the demolition and weakening the Arab and Islamic worlds. Allah Almighty says of them "Every time they [the Jews] kindled the fire of war [against you], Allah extinguished it. And they strive throughout the land [causing] corruption, and Allah does not like corrupters."(Table 64)

A Koranic quote about how evil Jews are is always a nice touch.

The Zionist enemy seeks to create economic and political crises to many countries with different interests, specifically Egypt. We will find there are serious problems that threaten the security and stability and growth of Egypt, and these problems of the dam which is located in Ethiopia located on the Blue Nile, which is still under construction and upon completion of its establishment will become the largest hydroelectric dam in the African continent, and the world's tenth largest dams for electricity production.

The question that arises here, this poor country which does not have the financial capabilities available for the establishment of such a large project, which is considered one of the world's poorest countries, where does it get such financial support? What is the purpose of supporting a country as Ethiopia?

...The Zionist enemy follows the policy of successful economic warfare I've previously discussed, and showed them that the Islamic world in general and Palestinians in particular follow the same economic policy if they want progress and growth. There are large-scale projects in most countries of the world from the cultivation of cotton in Uzbekistan to water in Ethiopia, and here the Zionist enemy is trying to use economic strength to wear down economic powers of neighboring countries.

[next few paragraphs on how Israel is using Ethiopia to divert the waters of the Nile away from Egypt to help destroy that country.]

Finally, after trying mightily to avoid saying the J-word, the writer can't stop himself any more:

We ask God Almighty to foil their evil schemes against the Islamic nation, (as there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,) and [we ask Allah to] cleanse the land of Palestine from defiled Jews and their supporters, and to support the mujahideen everywhere in Burma, Syria, Palestine, ...and may this century herald the era of the beginning of Islamic Renaissance, God willing.

I want to once again stress that the existence of Jew-hatred in the mainstream Palestinian Arab media every once in a while is not necessarily such a problem - if other Arabs would be upset. The problem is the complete absence of a counter-narrative in the Arab world - virtually never does one see any comments or talkbacks that say, "hey, you do know you are advocating genocide against Jews, which is just a slight violation of human rights, don't you?"

While the entire Arab world might not be as explicit in their goals as this writer, they are simply not exposed to anything positive about Jews, except in the nostalgic sense of remembering how nice the Jews who were ethnically cleansed from their countries 60 years ago were.

As I have been emphasizing recently, Arab antisemitism is a human rights issue, yet it has been completely ignored by the major human rights organizations. If you haven't done it yet, please sign the petition I set up to pressure Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to fulfill their own mandates and condemn an upcoming blockbuster antisemitic TV series that will potentially reach hundreds of millions of Arabs.

A new twist on "honor killing," and how it relates to peace

From Ma'an:

Israeli police on Wednesday identified a 19-year-old Palestinian as the main suspect in the murder of a woman from Jerusalem.

Police spokeswoman Luba al-Samari said 19-year-old Mohammad Shweiki was suspected of choking Minas Qasim to death because her family rejected his marriage proposal.

The body of Qasim, 21, was found near a dump in East Jerusalem's al-Eizariya area on May 6, three days after she disappeared on her way home from work. An autopsy revealed the cause of death as strangling.

Police found Qasim's belongings at the suspect's home, including a necklace and her mobile phone, al-Samari said in a statement.

Is there any difference between "family honor" and the "honor" of a spurned beau?

Not really. In both cases, men decide that when they are embarrassed by a woman for whatever reason, she must be killed. Saying it is to defend "honor" is a deflection, but one that gullible observers swallow.

After all, one major reason there is no Palestinian Arab state now is, indeed, "honor."

Compromise, to an extent, involves swallowing one's pride for the greater good. Since "everyone knows" that Arabs value their honor more than Israeli Jews, it seems logical to push the Israelis to make concessions while justifying Arab intransigence. It is a cultural thing, and to decry Arab culture seems vaguely colonialist.

The same logic that allows Arab nations to minimize punishments for "honor crimes" allows Western nations to give them a free pass for prioritizing "honor" over peace.

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Rearranging the Middle East

Rearranging the Middle East’s map would be costly in terms of material resources, with people resettling from one area to another, but, in the long run, it will save lives and reduce injustices. The U.S.’s insistence on keeping the artificial and troublesome states of Iraq and Syria whole is incomprehensible since it betrays the cherished ideals of freedom of choice. Given the hodgepodge composition of Iraq and Syria, the natural inclination of the minority groups would be for self-determination. The oppressed minorities have long awaited self-rule. The Kurdish, Christian, Druze, and Alawi states will also diminish the intensity of the Arab-Israeli conflict by serving as a barrier between the Sunni-Arab state and Israel. The civil war in Syria and Iraq creates a perfect opportunity for America to support the right thing.

Improbable new pact shows Iran’s ally in Baghdad is losing power

Pro-Western Iraqi Kurdistan, with ties to US and Israel, has squeezed concessions out of Iraq’s weakened Shiite PM Maliki. He may not intend to honor the deal, but the fact that he signed it speaks volumes

Barry Rubin: Kerry's Embarrassing "Peace Process" Obsession

A case can be made for Kerry showing himself as working hard for peace in order to defuse any possible effect on events elsewhere in the region. But by working too hard, spending too much of his time on the issue, and making absurd claims that he is going to succeed, Kerry is setting himself up for an embarrassing fall.

Netanyahu to Abbas: Give Peace a Chance

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to “give peace a chance.”
Speaking at a Knesset session called by the opposition and which dealt with the peace process, Netanyahu said that Abbas should give up his preconditions and come to the negotiating table.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas: No peace without J'lem as Palestinian capital

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Wednesday that there would be no peace or a Palestinian state without Jerusalem as the capital of that state.
"We won't accept any city other than Jerusalem as our capital," Abbas said during a speech at a conference on Jerusalem in Ramallah.

Hamas Slams ‘Illegal’ New PA Government

Abbas’ move “proves that the Fatah leadership is willing to maintain and prolong the state of disagreement,” read a Hamas statement printed by Maan news.
Hamas sources noted that they have no objections to Hamdallah in particular. Their objection is over the fact that a new government does not include Hamas and was created unilaterally, they said.

UN Watch: Why the UN's Falk is Lobbying to Silence UN Watch

Douglas Murray: "Debating" Beheading

People who believe in the murder of British troops abroad are trying to pretend that they can find a way to oppose their murder on British streets. Those who believe in the murder of two-year old Israeli children are trying to find a way to explain why the murder of a British man in his twenties is wrong. How can those who claim that killing "infidel" warriors in war zones is a good thing hope people will believe them when they say that killing an "infidel" soldier in London is a bad thing?

Jordan Islamist delegation enters Gaza via tunnels

A delegation of Jordanian politicians entered the Gaza Strip this week via smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border, Egyptian security officials said Wednesday.
Members from Jordan's Islamist Freedom and Justice party spent two days in Gaza, and reportedly met with Hamas officials.

Al-Qaeda Syrian Rebel Group Now Sitting on Israeli Border

The IDF verified reports Thursday morning that Syrian rebel forces had conquered parts of the Golan city of Kuneitra, placing them directly on the border with Israel. IDF officials said that the takeover of the area by rebel forces was a “significant development.”

Al-Qaida leader calls for Jihad against Israel

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Syrians to unite to bring down President Bashar Assad and thwart what he said were US plans to set up a client state in Syria to safeguard Israel's security.
In a 22-minute recording, posted on Islamist websites on Thursday to mark 65 years since Israel's founding, Zawahri also said the only way to solve the Palestinian problem was through Jihad (Islamic holy war).

'Anti-Semitism Pervades Al Qaeda Magazine'

In an ongoing effort to recruit and attract jihadists, Al Qaeda’s “Inspire” magazine continues to promote anti-Semitic narratives, depicting Jews as being at war with Islam and calling for the destruction of Israel,” according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League.

Arab League condemns Hezbollah's role in Syria

The Arab League on Wednesday condemned the military intervention in Syria by the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said.

Report: Iran, Hizbullah to 'Fight to the Death' for Assad

Iran and Hizbullah are doing everything they can to keep Bashar Assad in power in Syria, said a special report by the The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC), an independent organization that keeps track of terror groups and activities in the Middle East and around the world. “For Iran and Hizbullah, the preservation of Bashar Assad's regime is of supreme strategic importance,” ITIC says in its latest report.

Hollande wins UNESCO peace prize for Mali intervention

Francois Hollande was awarded the annual Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize by Unesco at a ceremony in Paris.
The president of the jury praised Mr Hollande for the "solidarity shown by France to the peoples of Africa".
The decision was criticised by some human rights groups, who noted the continuing unrest in Mali. (h/t MTB)

Defiance: Host of Turkish Scrabble-Like Quiz Show Crafts 70 Questions Whose Answers Discomfort the Government

One guy, a game show host (of all things!), decided to defy the complete ban on mentioning what everyone could see outside their windows by writing 70 questions for his show for which all answers related to the protests and provoked the government -- and not in a playful way, either.
Literally every question/answer defied the ban, but I'm just quoting the edgier ones.

Would there be a Palestinian Arab state today on the West Bank and Gaza?
Would Israel's Arab neighbors consider the 1949 armistice lines as "borders" today?
Would Jews would be allowed to visit their holy places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron and elsewhere today?
Would Israelis in the Galilee be safe from fire coming from the Golan Heights today?
Would there have not have been another war of aggression mounted against Israel since then?
Would the Middle East would be a safer place today?
Would worldwide terror today be lessened?
Would the Palestinian Arab "refugee" problem have been solved by now?
Would Israel-haters hate Israel any less?

If the answers to all of these are "no," and they almost certainly are, then why does anyone think that Israel turning the clock back to early 1967 would improve things - today?

Palestinians in Lebanon torch Hezbollah aid

From Daily Star (Lebanon):

Some 1,500 packages of food aid donated by Hezbollah were burned by Palestinian refugees from Syria and local residents in the Bekaa Wednesday, the second such incident in a week. Omar Halabi, the head of the Saadnayel Youth League, told The Daily Star that a truck with boxes of aid was unloaded in the morning at the offices of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Halabi said when the aid was distributed, the refugees noticed the labels attached to each package explaining that the aid was a gift from the “Islamic Resistance in Lebanon to our brethren, the displaced Palestinians from Syria.”

“When the refugees realized that the aid was from the same party which is killing their people in Qusair and in other places, they, with dozens of locals, took the boxes from the Palestinian Cultural Center and burned them,” Halabi said.

The DFLP is politically affiliated with the Syrian regime, and its leader, Nayef Hawatmeh, lives in Syria.

Last Thursday, Palestinian refugees from Syria set fire to humanitarian aid donated by Hezbollah in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, citing their anger over the party’s role fighting alongside the Syrian regime.

Refugees gathered in front of the camp’s Kifah School holding banners explaining their decision to destroy the aid, which the party is distributing across a number of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

Certainly over the past few months, the hatred between Shi'ites and Sunnis in the Middle East has become a predominant theme in the Arab media - and as much as both groups hate Jews, they hate each other more. The Syria crisis just brought the hatreds to the fore.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Intra-Hamas split reportedly widening

Palestine Press Agency is reporting that the split between Hamas' political wing of Khaled Meshal and its Qassam Brigades is getting deeper.

According to the report, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is trying to fix the rift, caused by the Qassam Brigades wanting to ally with Iran and Hezbollah while Meshal wants to be on the side of the Islamists in Syria.

Hezbollah has reportedly expelled Hamas from Lebanon because of Meshal's position.

Muhammad Badi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and his deputy Khairat Al-Shater tried and failed to achieve a consensus between the two groups, which led to the postponement of the Hamas Shura Council meeting that had been scheduled to take place last Monday in Cairo.

Hamas leaders fear that the split will become public, which could account for the meeting being postponed indefinitely. No official reason was given for the postponement.

It looks like not only is unity impossible between Hamas and Fatah, but also between Hamas and Hamas.

Paris museum to exhibit pro-terrorist "art"

The Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris is scheduled to show an "art" exhibit by Ahlam Shibli, purportedly to explore the concept of "home."

The description of the exhibition:

It deals with the loss of land and the fight against this expropriation, but restrictions and limitations that the idea of land imposes on individuals and communities affected by a criminal identity-politics groups. Among the places affected by this problem, we include the occupied Palestinian territories; monuments honoring both the French resistance fighters who opposed the Nazis and the French fighters in colonial wars against the people who wanted to turn their independence. In recent years, the photographic arena of Shibli has expanded to other questions around social exclusion across the situation of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people from Eastern countries and communities of children in Polish orphanages . Death, the latest round of Shibli specially designed for the occasion, shows the efforts of the Palestinian society to preserve the presence of those who lost their lives fighting the occupier. This series gives a large place to their absence through photographs, posters, and graffiti graves, presented as a form of resistance to colonial rule.

Here are some of the photos being exhibited of Palestinian Arabs honoring suicide bombers and other terrorists:

The exhibit pamphlet also shows that he has photos of Bedouin soldiers in the IDF, but the idea that they are there because of loyalty to Israel is dismissed:

Trackers series conducted in 2005, focuses on Palestinians of Bedouin origin who have served or still serve as volunteers in the army Israeli. This project questions the price that colonized minority is obliged to pay to a majority composed of settlers, perhaps to be accept, perhaps changing identity, perhaps to survive, perhaps for all these reasons and others.

There is a protest planned as well as an online petition against this "art" that glorifies murderers and demonizes Israel.

(h/t Irene)

It's only graffiti, right?

From the Belfast Telegraph:

The half-finished former headquarters of the Anglo Irish Bank has been defaced with anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic graffiti.

Gardai and the Central Bank, which last year bought the eight-storey shell in the Dublin docklands, have launched separate probes into the vandalism, which happened early on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Several messages - including "Zionist engineered global financial holocaust", "Jewish supremacist destruction of indigenous Europeans", "Zionist global financial terrorism" and "Jewish financial terrorism" - have been scrawled in large red letters in the skeleton-like building.

From La Repubblica (Italian):

Two swastikas, a Star of David and the word "Juden" have been painted with black spray paint on the facade of the Synagogue of Verona. The anti-Semitic action the other night was done by some hooded people, videoed by surveillance cameras that have provided the police the first evidence to start an investigation. It's not the first time such events happened in Verona: over the years and in recent months swastikas had been painted on Jewish cemetery, but never on the facade of the synagogue in the city center.

The incident happened to coincide with an important Jewish religious ceremony, the 150th anniversary of the [dedication of?] Sefer Torah, a scroll that contains the sacred writings of the Jews.