Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Influential Egyptian sheikh says Jews control the media - in Egypt

Mohamed Mukhtar al-Mahdi, a professor at Al Azhar University in Cairo and head of at least one Islamic group, has claimed that Egypt's media is being run by Jews.

He said that the Egyptian media is the main reason for Egypt's political problems. His explanation is that the Egyptian media has become recently fallen into the hands of the Jews, and its slander and lies are part of the of the Zionist plan to demolish the country, as well as turn people against Islam.

Here is al-Mahdi with one of his fans:

UNRWA cannot fathom why Israelis don't want to be murdered

UNRWA published a story and video on its website about how they help a Gaza man survive after the evil Israelis took his job away with their awful blockade of Gaza:

When Iyad Farahat was 7 years old, his father died. Like many Palestine refugee children growing up in difficult circumstances, he was soon forced to leave school. At 19, Iyad entered the textile industry, and quickly opened a small sewing factory in Rafah. By 1996, at 32, he was able to move his business to the Karni Industrial Zone in northern Gaza, where he had 50 sewing machines and around 60 employees.

For over ten years, the business was successful. He cultivated a strong relationship with a partner in Israel, who worked with him to export textiles to Israel and the United States. Iyad and his wife, Aida, raised three boys, and used their success to help their community. Iyad joined the Sultan Club, which supports youth sport programmes and activities.

Blockade brings misery

In 2004, however, everything began to change. Restrictions on export from Gaza increased; movement within the Strip became more difficult because of checkpoints established around Israeli settlements. When his partner in Israel went bankrupt because of delays and penalties incurred on contracts, Iyad struggled to pay his workers; soon, he was bouncing checks.

By 2006, with the blockade on Gaza in full effect and export stopped completely, he was forced to liquidate his assets to pay his employees.

How dare the Israelis close the crossings that Farahat relied on for his livelihood!

It isn't as if there were any terror attacks at the Karni Industrial Zone and crossing, right?

Apr 15, 2003 - Zachar Rahamin Hanukayev, 39, of Sderot and Ahmed Salah Kara, 20, of Shuafat in northern Jerusalem were killed and four Israelis were wounded when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at the Karni industrial zone crossing in the Gaza Strip. The gunman was killed by security personnel. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mar 14, 2004 - Ten people were killed and 16 wounded in a double suicide bombing at Ashdod Port. The terrorists infiltrated into Israel from the Gaza Strip via the Karni Crossing while hidden in a double cell wall installed in a cargo container departing the Gaza Strip to Israel. Hamas and Fatah claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dec 7, 2004 - St.-Sgt. Nadav Kudinsky, 20, of Kiryat Gat of the Oketz canine unit was killed by a bomb, along with his dog, when a booby-trapped chicken coup exploded northwest of the Karni Corssing in the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire while evacuating him. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Jan 13, 2005 - Six Israeli civilians were murdered and five Israeli civilians were wounded in a combined terrorist attack carried out in the compound of the Karni Crossing. Three terrorists infiltrated into the compound via a hole which was created in a wall after the terrorists activated an explosive device which was placed next to a door at the Palestinian side of the crossing. The civilians were killed as result of the explosion, and after the terrorists hurled grenades and opened fire at the civilians working at Karni. Hamas and the Fatah al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claimed joint responsiblity for the attack.

Apr 26, 2006 - An attempted bombing attack on the Karni crossing was carried out by the Popular Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip under the direction of Hamas.

May 5, 2008 - Two mortar bombs land on the Karni Crossing and one on the Erez Crossing

Did UNRWA ever, even once, condemn Hamas or Fatah for their terror attacks that caused Israel to close the Erez and Karni industrial zones and crossings to save lives?

No*. To this UN agency, only Israel is wrong. To this UN agency, Israeli lives are worthless and Palestinian Arab convenience is far more important.

Context? Background? The worthless, morally depraved UNRWA only cares about such things when it helps make Israel look bad.

*I found a single passing condemnation of "rockets" buried inside a UNRWA document, and one or two quotes on the UNRWA website of the UN secretary general condemning rocket attacks in general, but no condemnations that mention any actual terror groups by name.

6/23 Links: The Apartheid Lie, Contrarian Finkelstein, Morsi’s Jailbreak and Erdogan's Conspiracy

From Ian:

The Apartheid Lie + EoZ Posters

People continue to accuse Israel of being an Apartheid State. I think people use the term without really knowing what “apartheid” means. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation used in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. This was an official policy that declared blacks second class citizens in every aspect of life. Blacks couldn’t vote or hold political office. They couldn’t marry whites and they couldn’t use the same public restrooms as whites. These are just a few examples.
Let’s take a look at Israel… Arabs in Israel can vote, they can hold political office, they work in professions alongside other Israelis, they can own businesses, they can be judges, lawyers, doctors, ambassadors… Does this sound like apartheid to you? The accusation is absurd, and I think everyone that has been to Israel can agree on that. (h/t Gnomercy9)

National service in Arab sector up 76% over past year

A ceremony was held on Tuesday at the Haifa Cinematheque to recognize the record-high 3,000 Arabs volunteering in the national service program this year.
This represents an increase of 76 percent over last year, when 1,700 participated.

Norman Finkelstein Throws Wrench In Anti-Israel Movement’s Claim To A Rights-Based Agenda

Members of the audience reacted hostilely to Finkelstein’s presentation, talking and shouting over him and even yelling at him during the question and answer period. While he spoke, two of the other panelists – Lamis Deek, a founder of Al-Awda; and Sherry Wolf, an avid BDS activist – who both later expressed support for a one-state solution, frequently rolled their eyes and put their heads down, displaying visible discomfort with his positions.
At one point, Deek and Finkelstein engaged in a hostile back-and-forth exchange. After acknowledging that she could never “recognize the right of the entity known as Israel” to exist, Finkelstein challenged Deek’s use of the term “entity,” stating, “Israel is a state. It has the same rights and the same obligations as the 190 other states.” Deek countered that she has “no obligation to operate strictly under the auspices or within the framework of international law despite the fact that Professor Finkelstein or other professors would like me to do so because they don’t make that requirement of the Israeli entity.”

Australia: Young Greens NSW Facebook poll questions Israel’s right to exist

But Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) executive director Peter Wertheim said although Greens policy accepts Israel’s right to exist, “they continue to be embarrassed by extremists in their own ranks, including some of their MPs, who are fixated on singling out Israel, among all the nations of the world, as a target of hatred and demonisation”.
“Regardless of their personal views, their activities and rhetoric have time and again been magnets for gross expressions of anti-Semitism, both online and in public forums,” he said. “The Greens as a party have a choice to make … They can speak and act as a party with mainstream voter appeal, or they can pander to the radical fringe of politics. With a federal election fast approaching, they can no longer do both.”

IDF spokesman posts Facebook tirade against critical NGO

Barak Raz, spokesman for the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division — the unit responsible for most military activities in the West Bank — used Facebook and Twitter to launch a bitter and emotional attack on Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence for what he said was deliberately seeking to smear the IDF rather than genuinely trying to prevent abuses by the army.

MKs: Stop Terrorist Release as ‘Good-Will Gesture’

The Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset, which reconvened less than two weeks ago, has sprung into action with a new proposal aimed at ending the phenomenon of prime ministers releasing terrorists from prison as a “good-will gesture.”
The proposed law would strip the president, who signs off on prisoner pardons, of the right to release prisoners jailed for offenses motivated by nationalism.

Abbas accepts Palestinian Authority PM Hamdallah's resignation

A PA source said that Hamdallah, whom Abbas appointed on June 2, quickly found himself in the same situation as his predecessor Salam Fayyad.
“Hamdallah discovered that the Palestinian Authority president wants him to serve as a yes-man with no powers,” the source explained. “Abbas wanted a prime minister who would play no role and only carry out orders from the president’s office.”

Fatah member: Haifa, Jaffa are Palestinian

Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are Palestinian cities and will remain so, Tawfik Tirawi, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, was quoted Saturday as saying.
Tirawi, who previously served as commander of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, said that the Palestinians have struggled since the Balfour Declaration and would pursue their struggle “until we achieve our national goals – the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees. We will pass this goal from one generation to another.”

Hamas executes two ‘collaborators’ with Israel

The Hamas government in Gaza executed two men on Saturday it accused of collaborating with Israel, the Hamas Interior Ministry announced.
The two men were killed by hanging in accordance “with what Palestinian law stipulates,” the ministry was quoted by AFP as saying.

Melanie Phillips: How ignorant Britain sneers and sniggers at the threat from Iran

For a distressing snapshot of how Britain is steadily sliding into irrelevance and indeed civilisational defeat, take a look at this week’s edition of BBC TV’s Question Time where I was on the panel. My statement that Iran currently posed the greatest threat to the UK and the west provoked a display of truly shocking ignorance amongst the political class, as well as venomous imbecility and resistance to truth-telling amongst the public.

VIDEO: Melanie Phillips on Syria and Iran (BBC QT June 20th 2013)

Druze leaders ask Israel to take in Syrian brethren

In a further sign of the worsening humanitarian situation in Syria, leaders of the Druze community on the Golan Heights have asked Israel to take in their coreligionists living across the border in the war-torn country.
The request came in a letter handed to Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker at a meeting with Druze leaders on the Golan Heights Thursday. The letter included an unprecedented request for Israel to take in Druze students who had left the Golan and settled in Syria, Maariv reported.

Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah conspired in Morsi’s jailbreak

An Egyptian court on Sunday said Muslim Brotherhood members conspired with Hamas, Hezbollah and local militants to storm a prison in 2011 and free 34 Brotherhood leaders, including the future President Mohammed Morsi.
The court statement read by judge Khaled Mahgoub named two members of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood — Ibrahim Haggag and Sayed Ayad — to be among the alleged conspirators in the attack on Wadi el-Natroun prison on Jan. 29, 2011.

Erdogan: Turkey, Brazil hit by same conspiracy

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has blamed a wave of anti-government protests in Turkey on a foreign-led plot to destabilize his government, suggested Saturday that protest-hit Brazil was the victim of the same alleged conspiracy.
Erdogan was addressing tens of thousands of his supporters in the Black Sea coastal city of Samsun, the latest stop in a series of rallies he has called to shore up his political support.

EMC buys Israeli storage startup ScaleIO for $200m

EMC, one of the world’s leading data storage providers, has reportedly bought Israeli startup ScaleIO for US$ 200 million. Numerous media reports say the American company targeted the Israeli company’s ECS software, which offers a way to scale network storage ability.
ScaleIO is known for its software that can change an application server to a virtual storage area network. According to the company, the ECS software “uses application hosts’ local disks to realize a virtual SAN that is comparable to or better than external SAN storage, but at a fraction of the cost and complexity.”

Israel's Blue I Water Technologies offers clean water solutions to China

In China, boiled or bottled water is suggested for drinking, and tap water may only be used to clean. The boiling of water is a cumbersome process and bottled water is expensive; hence, neither of the solutions is feasible.
An Israel-based company, Blue I Water Technologies, has presented a solution – Prizma. The device can be used in both household and industrial settings. It can identify, quantify and analyze chemical components of water and measure contents such as chlorine, pH and conductivity in water. This device, therefore, enables users to adjust and clean water for different uses, including drinking.(h/t Zvi)

Georgia’s PM: My dream is for Israel as a strategic partner

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili will visit Israel next week. Before his arrival, he invited the ‘Post’ to Tbilisi for an interview in which he explained why Israel matters to his country, and why Georgia should matter to Israel.(h/t Zvi)

Plus:

Melanie Phillips gets booed and taunted by BBC audience and panelists for daring to say that Iran is a threat (h/t O)

Also, Dore Gold on Israel and a changing Middle East:

(h/t Jacques Y)

Hamas kills Islamic Jihad leader!

Big trouble brewing in Gaza....

Al Quds Brigades of the Islamic Jihad has held Hamas Police in Gaza responsible for the death of a key Islamic Jihad field leader, Raed Qasim Jundiyah, who sustained serious head injuries when he clashed with Hamas police after they arrived at his residence in eastern Gaza to arrest him.

The Islamic Jihad said in a statement that Palestinian factions in Gaza have their own way of tackling the issues of the resistance groups and that there have been known channels to address disputes.

It accused Hamas of never adhering to those channels and regulations and of acting on its own which caused the death of Jundiyah, who is also one of Israel’s most wanted figures.
Islamic Jihad said that Jundiyah had been transferring arms from one place to another as the location of the arms has been known to some individuals who he believed may misuse them, but the Hamas authorities acted without coordination with the faction’s armed wing.

“Hamas police has ignored customary practice and regulations and took the issue into their own hands despite the fact that the issue was almost over and never needed police interference in the first place,” said the Islamic Jihad.

“Hamas police forces should not have directly approached Jundiyah’s home to arrest him especially given the fact that Jundiyah was accused by Hamas of conducting a resistance mission [against Israel],” said the Islamic Jihad.

Hamas, on the other hand, announced it had nothing to do with Jundiyah’s death and that he should have surrendered to the police authorities when they asked him to turn himself in.
“These claims that Hamas is not fully responsible for Jundiyah’s death cannot be accepted, since he has been a key target for Israel which had repeatedly tried to assassinate him,” said the Islamic Jihad.

A senior Islamic Jihad official in the West Bank said that the armed wing and the cadre have been instructed to show the highest level of restraint and discipline so that the crisis can be tackled by the Islamic Jihad leadership with its Hamas counterpart.

In Islamic Jihad's statement declaring Jundiyah a "martyr," they say:

In spite of this great loss of losing great martyr Raed Jundiyah, we emphasize that our only choice is to resist the central enemy to the nation, namely the Zionist enemy and those who stand behind him from the forces of injustice and arrogance, and the compass our weapon will not change its destination at all whatever the sacrifices. However this does not mean that we stand idly by in front of those trying to assault us, confiscate our weapons, or prevent us from doing our part of jihad in the defense of our people and our land.

It would be terrible, just terrible, if Islamic Jihad and Hamas start fighting over this little incident.

A Ma'an op-ed celebrates the new Arab Idol, Palestinian Mohammed Assaf, who wore a keffiyeh as he won the prize.

The author, Firas Attieh Tirawi, refers to Assaf as a "hero" and compares him to other "Palestinian heroes," such as Yasser Arafat, Abu Jihad and Abu Iyad and Abdul Qader Husseini, Faisal Husseini and Ahmed Shuqairi and Fathi Shikaki (founder of Islamic Jihad) and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Ahmed Yassin (co-founders of Hamas), Abu Ali Mustafa (PFLP), and George Habash (PFLP).

The article also refers to Assaf's singing of "returning" to Palestine from the river to the sea, expelling Jews from Haifa and Acre and Jaffa as well as Jerusalem.

Meanwhile UNRWA appointed Assaf - the singer who competed based on songs advocating the destruction of Israel - to be its first "Ambassador."

The first Palestinian to win Arab Idol, Assaf was born to Palestine refugee parents in Libya. He returned to the Gaza Strip with his family at age 4 and was raised largely in the refugee camp in Khan Younis. He has described himself as a “son of Palestine” and a “son of UNRWA”: his mother is an UNRWA teacher, and he himself was educated in UNRWA schools.

Which means that he has no reason to have refugee status - his family moved quite freely to the territory of "Palestine" which is where he grew up.

UNRWA, of course, agrees with Assaf that the Jewish state must be destroyed with the "return" of millions of fake refugees like Assaf's family. And the UNRWA schools of Gaza that Assaf grew up on have been documented to teach about the glories of jihad and martyrdom.

Video: Palestinians in Syria fighting on Assad's side

From CNN:

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Jon Stewart in Egypt causes controversy for the dumbest reason possible (video)

Jon Stewart, during his working summer vacation, visited his friend and fellow TV satirist Bassem Youssef in Egypt.

So what could be the problem?

Egyptian paper Al Mesryoon complained about this appearance, because of a comment he makes early on about not working. He says "As you know my people like to wander the desert, that's what I'm doing now...it's been two weeks, I've got 38 years and 50 weeks left."

Al Mesryoon, hilariously, says that Stewart was making fun of ...the Koran!

You see, the Koran says that the Jews wandered 40 years in the desert because of their sins. How dare Jon Stewart mock the Koran! And to add insult to injury (a topic covered in the interview,) Stewart makes fun of Cairo traffic!

You just can't make this stuff up.

It's not easy photographing the moon; here is the best I could do - using photo mode on a video camera.

Hamas says it will take nine years to destroy Israel

Hamas interior minister Fathi Hammmad, speaking to Egyptian media, said that Hamas will help achieve the destruction of Israel in nine years:

"The destruction will be in phases, and Egypt will also play a significant role in the destruction of the Zionist entity, and will then be an Islamic caliphate," Hammad said.

Hammad indicated that "Palestine" and all the other Islamist countries will combine into the new caliphate.

The implication that such a caliphate is impossible while Israel exists.

Which is as good a reason as any for the West to support Israel wholeheartedly.

While we might laugh at the idea of Israel being destroyed in nine years, are any Western leaders setting up a strategy to destroy Islamist terror groups in any timeframe?

I am afraid that for all the technical and moral superiority of the West, the Islamists have a strategy - and we simply don't. We remain in reactive mode without a clear vision of how to defeat the enemy, and often not even to recognize it as the enemy.

Hamas' plan, shared with the PLO, is not mentioned here but obvious based on the short history of Palestinian Arab nationalism. It is to take Israel apart piece by piece. Starting with Judea and Samaria and concentrating on Jerusalem, a city that was ignored by most Muslims before 1920, the plan is to take away Israel's Jewish soul and then to destroy it demographically, all the while delegitimizing the very idea of a Jewish state and of a Jewish people. They have enough antisemites and self-hating Jews to partner with to push this plan (or specific parts of it.)

Where is the plan to destroy Hamas?

Ridiculous article blames Israel for "Gaza's cultural deficit"

In Al Monitor, Rana Baker writes a mishmash of pseudo-facts all meant to blame Israel for Gaza's lack of culture. Israel restricts movement in its own territory between Gaza and the West Bank, Israel bombed the Islamic University of Gaza in 2008, and a bunch of other cherry-picked half-truths are thrown together to make it appear like Israel has a deliberate policy against Gaza culture, and Hamas is free and clear.

Here is the comment I wrote there:

What a joke this article is.

3 examples will suffice:

Baker pretends that the Islamic University of Gaza is a purely academic institution, with nothing to do with terror. Yet in 2007 it was reported that not only was Gilad Shalit held there for several months, and not only was master Hamas bombmaker Yahya Ayyash hiding there as well, but Fatah raided the campus and found 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles, hundreds of RPG launchers and massive amounts of ammunition. Oh, and a tunnel leading to Gaza's police station, under Fatah control at the time.

Israel's bombing it in 2008 had nothing to do with "limiting culture" and everything to do with limiting terror.

The second example is how quickly Baker sweeps Egypt's role in the Gaza closure.Blink and you'll miss it: "Egypt's policy of restricting travel for men under 40..." Oh, you mean that Egypt borders Gaza as well? And it limits people entering and leaving? Then why is 99% of this article about Israel? How much cultural exchange is allowed between Gaza and Egypt? If the answer is "very little" then perhaps Israel isn't the problem, is it?

Finally, Baker's characterization of the PalFest as an example of Israel blocking Gaza culture is especially rich. Because last year's PalFest in Gaza was forced to move, mid-festival, to Cairo after Hamas police shut it down! Afterwards, participants (quoted in Al Ahram) noted how Hamas is the major reason Gaza is a cultural wasteland.

Not Israel, not Egypt - Hamas.

Professor of English Literature Sahar El-Mougy said that there’s a deplorable condition of cultural hunger. There aren’t even cinemas, libraries, or shops that sell books on the arts, philosophy or literature. The only available books are those on Islamic Sharia (Islamic jurisprudence) and Fiqh (thinking).

'There’s a conspiracy against the Palestinian character, to destroy its beauty. Hamas is erasing Palestinian culture, replacing it with an extremist version of Islam. They don’t even allow men and women to be in the same place!' El-Mougy objected.

'But through all this, and despite the security and intelligence, who we saw everywhere in Gaza, students we met have the spirit of resistance — not against Israel this time, but against the repressive practices of Hamas.'

This article is nothing but propaganda, and Al Monitor does not help its own reputation by publishing it.

(h/t Josh)

6/22 Links: The Australian Greens Party Ship of Hate, PA PM Unresigns

From Ian:

The Australian Newspaper Editorial: All aboard the ship of fools

Australia's most notorious Holocaust denier was invited by a NSW Greens MP to join a boat trip on Sydney Harbour last month to raise funds for Gaza.
Greens MLC David Shoebridge invited Fredrick Toben - who served prison time for Holocaust denial in Germany in the 1990s and in Australia last decade for contempt of court after breaching an order to refrain from publishing material on his website vilifying Jews - to the NSW Parliamentary Friends of Palestine event.

THE HATE BOAT: Greensparty wanted to go “solidarity” sailing with Nazi holocaust denier

The notorious New South Wales branch of the Greensparty has once again embroiled the party in scandal, following revelations in The Australian that it has forged close ties with the nation’s most infamous Holocaust denier and Nazi, Fredrick Töben.
They even invited him to sail in solidarity to raise funds for Gaza, in protest at Israel’s attempts to stop the flow of weapons and equipment used by terrorists there against Israeli civilians and enemies of the Hamas-led regime there.

CAMERA: Time for 60 Minutes and Jeff Fager to Correct Bethlehem Falsehood

Leaders in Turkey, Egypt and Iran face new 'people power'

Middle Eastern politics, once the exclusive lot of generalissimos, kinglings, aristocrats and clerics, is being wrested by the people with growing aggressiveness.
This is not quite the free, integrated, tolerant and business-minded “New Middle East” that President Shimon Peres prophesied two decades ago, but it is one where governments are increasingly compelled to look inward, listen to the public, dialogue with adversaries and focus on delivering prosperity, mobility, hope and respect. The more this trend will develop, the more Middle Eastern leaders will deal with domestic policy and the more they will lose interest in foreign affairs.

‘Palestinian PM withdraws resignation a day after quitting’

Hamdallah was said to have originally resigned due to “differences over his authorities.” An unnamed Palestinian government spokesman told the website of independent daily Al-Quds that Hamdallah resigned after “his deputies overstepped their authorities.”
Abbas gave Hamdallah two deputies, one for political and one for economic affairs, apparently to make up for his political inexperience.

US Congressmen call for renewed EU push to blacklist Hezbollah

In a statement to The Jerusalem Post, Congressman Eliot Engel (NY-16) said he was "very disappointed" that some countries in the EU "continue to believe that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization."
"EU-US cooperation on combating global terrorism will continue to face unnecessary obstacles until Hezbollah is properly labeled a terrorist organization, in its entirety," the congressman said. "Nonetheless, I applaud the efforts of the UK, France and Germany, and am confident that this situation will change in the future."

Muslim Brotherhood Targeting Journalists as Anti-Government Protests Near

Egypt’s defence and interior ministers have turned down a proposal by President Mohamed Morsi to prepare security forces for a possible declaration of a state of emergency should planned 30 June anti-government demonstrations turn violent, government sources told Ahram Online on Thursday.

Islamic Preacher: Protesting Against Morsi is a 'Rebellion'

A radical Islamic preacher has warned that participation in the protests scheduled for June 30 against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi is forbidden, the Egyptian-based Al Bawaba reports.
The preacher, Wagdy Ghoneim, reasoned his warning in the fact that Morsi is a legitimately elected president. Those who will join the protests, he warned, are “disbelievers” because the people should obey those in charge of their affairs.

Egyptian activists angry over US envoy's comments

The outrage mounted after Ambassador Anne Patterson said in a speech earlier this week that she is "deeply skeptical" that protests will be fruitful and defended U.S. relations with Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as necessary because the group is part of the democratically elected Egyptian government.

U.S. has secretly provided arms training to Syria rebels since 2012

The covert U.S. training at bases in Jordan and Turkey, along with Obama's decision this month to supply arms and ammunition to the rebels, has raised hope among the beleaguered Syrian opposition that Washington ultimately will provide heavier weapons as well. So far, the rebels say they lack the weapons they need to regain the offensive in the country's bitter civil war.

Germany-Turkey diplomatic dispute intensifies, both sides summon envoys

Merkel on Monday criticized the crackdown by security forces as “much too strong.” The chancellor also has long been skeptical of Turkey’s ambitions to join the European Union; her coalition government supports continuing membership talks, but this week blocked a decision to move forward the negotiations.

Muslim Lawyers Association opposed to Obama visit

"We will ask the court to review the decision neither to investigate or prosecute and to order them to commence a full investigation in terms of the Rome Statute," MLA attorney Yousha Tayob said.
The MLA said it submitted a complaint to the national director of public prosecutions and the SA Police Service, calling for Obama to be "investigated, charged, arrested, and tried in a South African court for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide".

Memorial to Warsaw Ghetto uprising is vandalized

The entrance to a memorial for the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising was vandalized.
The words “Jude Raus,” meaning “Jews Out,” were discovered Wednesday at the Anielewicz Mound in Warsaw, a monument to commander Mordechai Anielewicz and his fighters.

A New Interactive Map of the Vilna Ghetto Asks: What Good Is History if It Isn’t Told?

reVILNA, a just-launched digital mapping project of the Vilna Ghetto, is the response: a virtual reclamation of the space. Using filters and a search function, visitors to the site can explore the ghetto on their own, or follow built-in storylines—sort of like virtual tours—which are either chronological or topical in nature and include resistance, health, education, government, art and culture, and more. There are more than 200 points (and counting), all painstakingly organized, paired with more than 150 photographs culled from archives around the world.

Greek Cyprus Signs Energy Deal With Israel in Defiance of Turkey

The Greek Cypriot cabinet defied Turkey earlier this week, approving plans to sign a deal with a US-Israeli partnership to build a liquefied natural gas plant on the island to exploit untapped energy riches, AFP reported Friday.
Turkey has objected to the plan, saying the resources should be divided between two sides of the separated island.

Egyptian anti-Israel postage stamps

(Fourth of a series of articles about Arab anti-Israel stamps.)

Egypt has published many, many anti-Israel stamps.

A great number of them were centered around Palestine refugees:

World Refugee Year, 1960. Arabs pointing to map of "Palestine"

1961 "Palestine Day"

1968

The 1970 stamp glamorized PLO terror attacks:

1970

The 1972 stamp added a religious dimension, showing an image of the Dome of the Rock:

1972

The 1973 stamp seemed to be an early example of the "starving refugee" meme:

1973

The 1976 and 1977 stamps made the religious theme a bit more explicit, as the stylized "refugees" stare at the Dome of the Rock:

By 2000, the link with Islam was complete with a photo of the Al Aqsa Mosque along with the PLO flag:

In 1957, Egypt celebrated Israel's giving Gaza back after the 1956 war, with this Egyptian stamp overstruck in Gaza with the word "Palestine:"

In 1962, Egypt issued a stamp to commemorate the fifth anniversary of its re-occupation of Gaza. Even then, Egypt held to the fiction that Gaza was sort-of independent "Palestine" while still part of the "Arab nation."

Egypt, along with most other Arab League countries, issued a commemoration of Deir Yassin in 1965 - all the stamps were used an identical graphic:

This stamp was apparently released right after the Six Day War, but it appears it was designed beforehand to show Arab solidarity for "the defense of Palestine." Note that this time, the map is only of ISrael, not British Mandate Palestine, making it clear what the end goal was:

This 1970 stamp commemorates the supposed bombing by Israel of a civilian metal factory in Abu Zabbaiin 1970.

They also had one (not pictured) about Israel's attack on a Libya commercial plane that veered into Israel and refused to answer any signals in 1973.

Egypt released many stamps commemorating the Yom Kippur War. There was one literally every year for the first 15 years after the war, and every five years afterwards.

1973. "Spark of Liberation" implies that it would be followed by more.

The 1980 stamp, like some others, employs "peace doves" to commemorate a sneak attack war.

1980

1984

1985

1986

Of course, Egypt also commemorated the first intifada in 1988::

6/21 Links Part 2: Latma interviews the new moderate Iranian President.

From Ian:

LATMA: Latma interviews the new moderate Iranian President and celebrates Shimon Peres

Vice-Chair of UN Rights Panel Works for Saudi Gov’t, Defends Misogyny

What the UN forgot to mention today is that the Vice-Chair of the committee accusing Israel of violating children’s rights works for the Saudi government and has a despicable record of apologetics for her country’s misogyny.
About half the members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child come from non-democracies, many of whom take unfriendly or hostile positions against Israel at the UN, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Russia.
On professional human rights expertise, Mrs. Al-Shehail has a shameful record of telling lies to protect Saudi Arabia’s gross and systematic violations of women’s rights.

New Study Concludes that ‘Italian Schindler’ Actually Helped Murder Jews During the Holocaust

Giovanni Palatucci, a wartime police official, has been honored by Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations and by the Pope, but the Centro Primo Levi at the Center for Jewish Studies in New York stated that a research panel of more than a dozen scholars has concluded that for six years, Palatucci was “a willing executor of the racial legislation and — after taking the oath to Mussolini’s Social Republic, collaborated with the Nazis.”
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has responded by removing an exhibition celebrating Palatucci and an official at Yad Vashem told the Times they had “commenced the process of thoroughly examining the documents.”

MK Ohayon: UN 'Refugee Day' for Jews From Arab Lands, Too

As the United Nations urges countries to do more to help refugees – and castigates countries that create the refugees who are unable to live in their home countries – on World Refugee Day, commemorated Thursday, MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu) had a message for the UN: Don't forget the Jewish refugees from Arab lands, far more numerous than the much-worried over Arab refugees who fled the Land of Israel before Israel's establishment in 1948.
While those Arabs for the most part left their homes voluntarily, on the recommendation of Egypt, Transjordan (now Jordan(, Syria and the other four Arab countries that declared war on the nascent state – in order to “clear a path” for the “victorious Arab armies” as they “slaughtered the Jews” - the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were thrown out of the countries they and their families had lived in for hundreds of years, just for the crime of being Jewish, and thus suspected Zionists.

N. Korean camp survivor urges world’s attention

To date, the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva has convened 19 special sessions, none on North Korea. Israel has been the subject of six — more than the Syrian civil war, in which 90,000 people are believed to have died, or the genocide in Darfur, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, according to some estimates.
“Shin Dong-hyuk doesn’t touch on our agenda, he is our agenda,” said Hillel Neuer, the director of UN Watch, “drawing attention to major human rights abuses that do not receive the attention they merit.”

North Korea Officials Threaten to Kill Source of Mein Kampf Story Leak, Call Culprit ‘Human Scum’

Officials in Pyongyang also described the defector’s report as a “thrice-cursed crime” which was aimed at belittling Kim, The Daily Mail reports.
“We are determined to take substantial measures to physically remove despicable human scum who are committing treasons,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Turkish Reporters Suggest Conspiracy Theory

Turkish reporters loyal to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan have claimed that the anti-government protests currently gripping the nation have been carefully orchestrated and planned by prominent Jewish officials and a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank.

Israelis find way to preserve fertility after chemotherapy

In a study published in Science Translational Medicine (published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science), the authors describe how adding an Israeli-synthesized compound, AS101, to the chemotherapy regime successfully prevented infertility.

Chinese Fund to offer scholarships to Chinese students at Technion

The Hanqing International Education Foundation agreed this week to offer $8 million in scholarships to Chinese students at the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology.
The agreement, which is valid for 20 years, was signed in the presence of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Technion president Peretz Lavie, donor Chinese businessman Zhao Hanqing and Handan Mayor Hui Jian, from the donor’s birthplace.

Yuri Foreman Film Earns Plaudits at Cannes Film Festival (VIDEO)

A short film highlighting the career of Jewish boxer Yuri Foreman screened at the prestigious Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity this past week.
The Boxer, a commercial collaboration between Chevrolet and MOFILM, tells the story of “an immigrant boxer who never gave up on his dream and eventually became a world champion,” according to the video’s YouTube page.

‘Hostages’ is latest sabra TV export

Time for another first in the Israel-US small screen relationship.
“Hostages,” the latest Israeli pilot to get purchased by an American television station, will air in the US before it gets seen in Israel.

Cisco CEO: Super-fast Internet will make Israel ‘test case’ for digital world

A new, super-fast fiber-optic system to be installed across Israel will turn the country into the world’s first digital state and serve as a test case for the world, Cisco CEO John Chambers said.
The cable system, based on technology developed by Cisco, will offer speeds several magnitudes faster than anything the country has seen before, and will link up nearly all facets of the state into a revolutionary network.

James Gandolfini's Israeli Ad

In the outpouring of obituaries and appreciations of actor James Gandolfini, who died yesterday at age 51, there’s been a tendency to confuse the man with his most famous character, Tony Soprano.
Here, for example, he appears basically as Tony Soprano, in an ad for the Israeli satellite channel YES. So here’s to you, James Gandolfini.

Something new to boycott: Israeli company to market generic Viagra

From Globes::

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) will soon launch a generic version of Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra in the UK and other European countries, sources inform "Globes." The impotence treatment is one of the world's bestselling drugs. Pfizer's Viagra sales reached $2 billion in 2012, half of this in the US.

In the UK and other countries Viagra's patent expires this weekend, allowing Teva (and other generic manufacturers) to launch a generic version. Teva has confirmed that it plans launching a generic version called Sildenafil in the European countries where the patent expires.

In the US, Teva has been prevented from launching a generic version of Viagra by a court ruling that the patent is valid until 2020. However, Teva did launch a generic version in Canada several months ago following a positive ruling after five years of legal proceedings.

According to reports in the UK, in 2012 alone, 2.3 million prescriptions were written for the drug, costing the National Health Service £40 million. The price of the drug will be reduced from £10 to £1 when generic versions are launched.

This will give the Palestinian Arabs more potential conspiracy theories. Remember sex gum?

Then again, Hamas has more than a passing familiarity with Viagra.

Poor Gazans will now have a legal way of getting the impotence drugs they crave so much.

The market for this is obviously only going to grow.

(h/t NotAntiSemitic)

Saudis committing to beat the Shiites in Syria

A very interesting analysis by Michael Weiss in Now Lebanon:

Last Friday, King Abdullah cut short his summer vacation in Morocco and flew back to Riyadh not only to meet with his national security advisors but to coordinate a new strategy for winning the war in Syria, one that encompasses a unified regional bloc of Sunni-majority powers now ranged against Iran, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime. The Wahhabi kingdom has exhausted its patience with miscarried attempts to resolve the Syria crisis through diplomacy and it will not wait to see the coming battle in Aleppo play out before assuming control of the Syrian rebellion. State-backed regional efforts to bolster moderate Free Syrian Army elements will thus be joined with the fetid call to jihad emanating from clerical quarters in Cairo, Doha, Mecca, and beyond. The mullahs have only themselves to blame. “Nasrallah fucked up,” one well-connected Syrian source told me recently. “He awakened the Sunni giant. The Saudis took Hezbollah’s invasion of Qusayr personally.”

Although long in coming, and evidenced in the recent contretemps between Hamas and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, this grand realignment has been unmistakably solidified in the last week. A day after the Saudi king returned to Riyadh, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi severed all diplomatic ties with Damascus and called for a no-fly zone in Syria, leaving no mystery as to reason behind this decision. “Hezbollah must leave Syria – these are serious words,” the Islamist president said. “There is no space or place for Hezbollah in Syria.”

Then, on Monday, June 17, it was Jordanian King Abdullah’s turn to strike a minatory, albeit more nationalistic, note. Ostensibly addressing cadets at a graduation ceremony at Mutah Military Academy, the Hashemite monarch was in fact speaking to Barack Obama and Bashar al-Assad: “If the world does not mobilize or help us in the issue [of Syria] as it should, or if this matter forms a danger to our country, we are able at any moment to take measures that will protect our land and the interests of our people.”

...According to Elizabeth O’Bagy, the policy director at the Syrian Emergency Task Force and a senior research analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, the Saudis had a closed-door meeting with Gen. Salim Idris, the head of the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Command, a few days ago, at which they offered to do “whatever it takes” to help Idris defeat Assad and his growing army of Shiite-Alawi sectarian militias. Though, this being a Saudi promise, “whatever it takes” can still be defined relatively: the discussion was limited to weapons, more resources and logistical support, O’Bagy said, though some of the hardware has already begun to materialize.

One unnamed Gulf source cited by Reuters has claimed that the Saudis have begun running shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADs) into Syria. Furthermore, at least 50 “Konkurs,” Russian-made, wire-guided anti-tank missiles, have also turned up in Aleppo in the last week, as confirmed by the Daily Telegraph’s Mideast correspondent Richard Spencer (Konkurs are especially useful in destroying T-72 tanks, the most recent Soviet-era model that the Syrian Army uses.)

More intriguing still is the Western power evidently facilitating this campaign – France. Israeli Army Radio reported this week that French intelligence officials are working with their Saudi counterparts to train up rebels on tactics and weaponry, in concert with the Turkish Defense Ministry (no doubt because Turkish supply-lines to Aleppo are now even more crucial.)

There's lots more, and it is very good reading.