Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Hizballah reacts to being labeled "terrorist" by acting like - terrorists

Hezbollah expressed in a statement issued Monday evening firm rejection of the European Union’s decision to put its military wing on the list of terrorism, and considered it as “aggressive, unjust decision written with Zionist ink.”

Hezbollah saw in the EU bowing to pressures of the US administration and the Zionist entity as a serious turnover in its compliance to the White House dictates. “It looks as if the decision was written by American hands with Zionist ink and the EU had only to put its seal for approval,” Hezbollah’s statement said.

“If the EU countries think they are booking its locations in our Arab and Islamic countries by submitting to the logic of U.S. blackmailing, we assure them that Washington had made similar decision and gained only further failures and disappointments,” the statement ended up saying.

Hmmm...what do you think they are talking about, as far as the US getting physically involved in the region and then suffering "failures and disappointements"?

It sounds to me like Hizballah is bragging about the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 300 people.

So peaceful!

In its Arabic site, Hizballah reports on statements from many of its Lebanese allies complaining about the EU decision. The Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (of Lebanon!) states that the EU decision "is a behavior that encourages terrorism against free peoples," and called on "the sons of our people to further rally around the resistance and its weapons as the only option available to our people for liberation and the splendor and dignity."

MP Michel Aoun took a different tack - essentially admitting Hezbollah terrorism and justifying it. He said "the EU decision is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, which provides for the right of peoples to liberate its land occupied by all means available." He added "all the peoples of Europe had practiced at some point resistance to liberate their lands from occupation," essentially equating Hizballah terrorism to, say, World War II.

Suggested label for products of Judea and Samaria

TOI reports:

The European Union is seeking to formulate guidelines for the labeling of products manufactured in Jewish West Bank settlements by the end of 2013, according to documentation published Tuesday.

A July 8 letter sent by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to high-ranking European commissioners says that member states must adopt standardized guidelines and regulations for labeling settlement products, Haaretz reported.

Well, they should not object if the companies in the territories are pro-active in labeling their products, would they?

Here's one possible label:

Seems accurate to me.

7/23 Links Part 1: Douglas Murray on the EU, Ending the ‘Israel-is-to-Blame’ Game, UNRWA's 'Camp Jihad'

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: "Occupied Territories": What About Cyprus, Kashmir, Tibet?

The EU does not only have a wrong-headed view of Israel's past, it has a wholly misguided view of its future.
Today Israel is at the very bottom of the list of countries of concern, even in its own neighborhood, let alone the wider world, with nearly 100,000 dead in Syria and Egypt going through a counter-counter revolution, and with the Sunni-Shiite conflict looking likely to reach one of its intermittent boiling points as the Shiite armies of Hezbollah clash with the Sunni-armed opposition in Syria. Amid all this, the issue of where Jews should or should not live inside their historical homeland is a matter of the lowest international import.
Yet the EU -- which always likes to think of itself as such a forward-looking organization -- is once again showing itself to be stuck in a wrong-headed and bigoted past. It is not Israel which is the problem in the Middle East. Today Israel is, in fact, about the only non-problem in the region.
Yet it is this country's sovereignty upon which the EU decides time and time again that it can intrude. This latest decision tells us nothing about Israel or the West Bank. But it tells us what we need to know about the EU.

Hawks, Doves – and Ostriches

High-level poseurs, like European Union (EU) representatives, like group pictures with world leaders. Their book of achievements is never more than a picture portfolio. “We call on all sides to show restraint,” is the caption on the photo of the ostrich at the White House , the EU or the State Department preaching to the rapists and those they raped, telling Iranian protesters not to offend the ayatollahs, urging Egyptians not to insult Muslim Brothers, and bloodied Syrians not to be mean to Uncle Bashar.

US: Palestinians agreed to talks; Indyk reports premature

The State Department confirmed on Monday that the Palestinians agreed to participate in new peace talks with Israel, dismissing comments to the contrary made over the weekend by spokesmen for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Spokeswoman Jen Psaki also dispelled weekend rumors that veteran diplomat Martin Indyk had already been tapped to lead the new negotiations. Psaki said that Secretary of State John Kerry is still “putting together the right combination of players,” but denied that any decision on negotiators or envoys has been made.

Expert: The Chances of Peace Are Zero

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Professor Diskin, a professor at the Political Science Department of the Hebrew University, said that the reason that talks are doomed to fail is because the PA does not wish to reach an agreement. Already now, several days after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the resumption of talks, one can see that the PA is doubtful about starting negotiations, he said, citing as proof the PA’s demand that preliminary talks be held in Washington before any negotiations.
Noting the peace agreement signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, Professor Diskin said that in this case, both sides held serious negotiations and it was clear that both sides had the intention of reaching an agreement. The PA Arabs, however, display the opposite behavior, he added.

Ben Cohen: Kerry Must End the ‘Israel-is-to-Blame’ Game

Herein lies the risk of renewed peace talks: The Palestinians derail them, much as they did with previous attempts launched by the Clinton and George W. Bush Administrations, and the Israelis get the blame.
That’s why John Kerry should be making it clear to the Europeans that the U.S. will not tolerate any EU punitive measures against Israel, should the talks collapse. And he should also make clear that final borders would be addressed at any negotiations, not in advance of them. Frankly, given the warm welcome Israel has given his peace initiative, it’s the least he can do.

PA President Abbas: ‘Jewish State Has the Right to Preserve its Security Within its Borders’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Monday that in any future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Jewish State must leave “Palestinian land,” while conceding that “the Jewish state has the right to preserve its security within its borders,” in comments made three days after it was announced that direct negotiations would resume between the two sides.

Abbas Admits Palestinians Are Actually Jordanians

You see, the two state solution in Abbas’ eyes are two Arab states, one for the Palestinians in Jordan, and one for the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.
Perhaps we should ask him what about the third Palestinian state in the Gaza strip…

Two States? Not at "Camp Jihad"

As Israel and the Palestinian Authority prepare to renew their negotiations for “peace” under U.S. mediation, a short but powerful documentary about UNRWA children's camps shows just what kind of "solution" the Palestinian Authority and many of its citizens have in mind.
The film is made up almost exclusively of interviews with children and instructors at UNRWA camps.
In one part, campers are encouraged to chant:
"With God's help and our own strength we will wage war. And with education and jihad we will return!"

E.U. Blacklists Hezbollah “Military Wing”, Calls Attention to Debates Over Whether Different Hezbollah “Wings” Exist

U.S. counterterrorism specialists and the U.S. intelligence community have analyzed Hezbollah’s organizational structure and concluded that Hezbollah leaders are telling the truth when they deny that there are meaningful distinctions between the various parts of the organization:

Schwarzenegger - Israel's 'Hero' on Austrian Hizbullah Vote

One of the unsung heroes of the effort to put Hizbullah's “military wing” on a European Union blacklist was none other than former Hollywood actor and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In a letter, Schwarzenegger convinced Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann to instruct the country's Foreign Minister to cast Austria's vote for the blacklist proposal, something that neither Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu nor President Shimon Peres were able to do.

Congress Okays Initial Arms Shipments to Syria Rebels

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the U.S. will use money already in the CIA’s budget and transfer it to operations in Syria, as part of a plan announced last month by the Obama Administration. The plan involves the providing of small arms and ammunition to some of the 1,200 groups of Syrian rebels, some of which have known affiliations with al Qaeda.

Head of Syrian Jihadists: We Support an Islamic Caliphate

In an audio recorded that has been disseminated over the past several days, Abu Mohammad al-Julani stresses that he strongly opposes parliamentary elections or any political settlement in the country which would be achieved through international intervention.

Four Syrians Hospitalized in Tzfat

Four Syrians including an eight-year-old girl were brought to a hospital in Israel after they were wounded by fighting in the war-torn country, a medical source said on Tuesday.
"Yesterday night an injured eight-year-old girl and her 48-year-old mother were treated for fractures to their arms and legs from shrapnel," said a spokesman for Ziv hospital in Tzfat, north of the Sea of Galilee.

Report: Assad asked Israel not to stand in the way of Alawite enclave

According to a report in The Guardian on Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad sent a message to Avigdor Lieberman in 2012, when the latter was serving as foreign minister, asking Israel's position on the establishment of an Alawite enclave in northwestern Syria.
The Guardian reported that a mediator -- a well-known diplomatic figure -- is understood to have been asked by Assad to approach Lieberman late last year with a request that Israel not stand in the way of attempts to form an Alawite state, which could have meant moving some displaced communities into the Golan Heights area.

Top US brass: Syria no-fly zone would cost $1b. a month

Establishing a no-fly zone to protect Syrian rebels would require hundreds of US aircraft at a cost of more than $1 billion per month, with no assurance that it would change the momentum in the civil war there, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.

Russia Affirms Commitment to Delivering S-300 Missile System to Syria

Russia is still committed to delivering the S-300 advanced anti-aircraft missile system to Syria, despite Western objections, and is also considering extending a loan to the war-torn country, Al Arabiya reported Monday.

Congress, Obama at odds over new Iran sanctions

Congress is considering a new series of hard-hitting Iran sanctions on everything from mining and construction to the Islamic republic’s already besieged oil industry, despite concern from the Obama administration that the measures could interfere with nuclear negotiations.
House and Senate bills are both advancing at a time President Barack Obama’s national security team is gauging whether Iranian President-elect Hasan Rouhani is serious about halting some elements of Tehran’s uranium enrichment activity. Those involved in the process said the administration wants to temper Congressional plans until Rouhani takes office in August and has an opportunity to demonstrate whether his government will offer concessions.

Freedom of the press, Turkish-style

From Today's Zaman:

The Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) has announced that at least 22 journalists have been fired in connection with the Gezi Park protests, while 37 others have had to resign from their posts.

The İstanbul branch of the TGS held a press conference on Sunday to discuss dismissals and resignations from media outlets. Many journalists were in attendance, including Akşam columnist Tuğçe Tatari, who was dismissed, and Culture and Arts Editor Hasan Cömert, who resigned from his position.

Speaking at the conference, TGS İstanbul branch head Gökhan Durmuş said 22 journalists have been fired and 37 others forced to resign since May 27, when a small group of environmentalists began a sit-in protest in Gezi Park in the heart of İstanbul, attempting to block the government's plan to build an Ottoman-style barracks on the park. Following a heavy-handed police crackdown on the peaceful protesters, thousands took to the streets and rallies spread across Turkey. Five people, including a policeman, died and more than 7,000 were injured in the clashes, according to a Turkish rights group.

“These dismissals and resignations are mostly related to censorship policies followed by some media outlets in dealing with the Gezi Park resistance,” Durmuş said, adding that media workers are trying their best to resist the pressure exerted by media bosses and the government.

“Our colleagues worked hard for the public's right to be informed, and they paid for it with their jobs. Some have been censored, some had their TV programs shut down. There are even journalists who have been sacked due to their tweets. A colleague has been dismissed from his job just for saying hi to a [Gezi] protester,” Durmuş further stated, calling on all media workers to cooperate with the union to fight against pressure.

A NYT op-ed on Sunday highlighted the problem as well, blaming the cozy relationships between conglomerates that include the media as well as infrastructure that requires government cooperation:

Turkey’s rapidly growing economy has caused such greed that the media owners regularly counteract the judgment of professional journalists who are trying to do their jobs on behalf of the public. Editorial content is strictly controlled by media bosses who have other business interests and are submissive to the government. With, or more often without, any direct government intervention, they impose self-censorship on a daily basis and silence colleagues who defend basic journalistic ethics. With hardly any union presence in these outlets, there is very little job security.

...THE Turkish media’s pathological dysfunction is just one example of a much broader phenomenon. An extensive study conducted for the European Union by a group of journalists and independent media experts from across the continent found similar problems throughout southeastern Europe.

“Many media owners and leading journalists have vested political and economic interests and use their position to engage in ruthless ‘media wars’ against political opponents,” the report found.

...The more media moguls get involved in shady dealings with governments, the more their greed blocks all decent journalism and destroys journalists’ ability to hold the government accountable. A corrupted media can never uncover corruption in a credible manner.

Jordanian paper pushes the Helen Thomas ethnic cleansing plan

Addustour, a popular Jordanian newspaper, looks at the death of Helen Thomas and asks - what's so wrong with her idea of kicking all the Jews out of Israel? It is a plan that should be taken seriously, according to this op-ed.

After all, Herzl didn't care where the Jewish homeland would be. And Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said they'd allow Jews to return to that country once Israel was destroyed. And Jews themselves say they were kicked out of Arab countries, implying that they would return if they could. (Jordan, of course, would have no Jews returning, so it is an easy plan for a Jordanian newspaper to push.)

Of course, a few Jews would be allowed to remain in Israel according to the Helen Thomas Peace/Ethnic Cleansing Plan. You know, the ones who say that they disavow any concept of Jewish nationalism.

Yes, the best way to memorialize "this courageous woman" would be to take her liberal idea of ethnic cleansing and implement it fully.

Hamas reportedly breaks bones of PRC terrorist who shot rockets - and that's a good thing

Last Friday, two rockets from Gaza were fired into Israel.

According to Palestine Press Agency, the Nasser Saladin Brigades of the PRC terror group announced that one of their members was arrested and beaten by Hamas on Saturday, fracturing his limbs. They said that the reason for the arrest was suspicion of shooting the rockets. (As far as I can tell, the PRC didn't take credit for the launches.)

Outside of the obvious human-rights problem that Hamas and the PA don't care about their own laws, this is actually the best possible situation in stopping terror attacks.

Both Hamas and the PA control land and have established quasi governments from which they derive their legitimacy. This is a source of pride, and pride is a huge motivating factor in the honor/shame society of the Arabs.

Therefore, it is something that must be protected at almost all costs.

Without negotiations and without fanfare, Israel makes it clear that if it is attacked, she will respond. The responses necessarily involve the hated Jews either physically coming to the areas that the attacks originated from or attacking from the air. Either way, it weakens the perceived sovereignty of the PA and Hamas over the lands that they govern, and this is a source of shame. Therefore, it must be avoided.

And if that means that these groups will stop their own citizens from attacking Israel, then that is what has to be done.

Peace can only occur if it is in the self-interests of the parties. The reason that two decades of the Oslo process have not brought a real peace is that the terms given violate the self-interests of both parties.

A detente, however, is in the interests of both parties. Over the years Israel has established just such a detente by exploiting the fact that the PA and Hamas have something to lose by not cooperating. They want to stay in power? Fine - as long as Israel is left alone, their own leadership is safe.

This is the closest thing to peace that is possible in the conflict. Thuggish methods to enforce the truce is not ideal, but it is much better than rockets landing on schools.

Waiting for an invitation to make a framework to set up negotiations

From Ma'an:

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat has not yet received an official invitation to Washington to meet with his Israeli counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman said Monday.

"We are awaiting an invitation by Washington to both a Palestinian and an Israeli delegation to discuss the unresolved details," Nabil Abu Rdeina told Reuters.

When Erekat goes to the Washington, he will first set a framework for future negotiations, Abu Rdeina said.

"If agreement is reached on these details in line with the Palestinian demands, resuming negotiations will be announced," he added.

Did I nail it in this cartoon or what?

J-Street student trip pays respects to Arafat

A student took a J-Street sponsored tour of Jerusalem and Ramallah - and there was nothing remotely even-handed about it.

While the point of the article is about how her fellow college students were so lacking in critical thinking skills that they swallowed the lies they were given whole, one could not tell that this trip was organized by a supposedly Jewish, "pro-Israel/pro-peace" organization as opposed to an Arab propaganda outfit. And this J-Street trip winds up in a most sickening way:

We hopped on our charter bus and went to meet with a member of the PLO negotiating team on the well known Emek Refaim street in the German Colony. Not surprisingly, the man was filled with anger. He started off by saying how difficult it is to be a Palestinian in the German Colony seeing Israeli flags waving from houses that were once homes of Palestinians.

He then continued on for the next 40 minutes playing the blame game: “Why can’t there be peace? Because of Bibi. There are two things in this world that will never change – and that is Netanyahu and Allah.”

As he went on and on, I became lost in his web of contradictions and realized that this man has been in the peacemaking game too long. I found it odd that the students I was traveling with did not seem bothered by the bitterness of the PLO negotiator, nor did they mention how they wished we could have heard from an Israeli negotiator as well, which I believed would be beneficial to compare and contrast the two sides.

...Finally, we were on our way to Ramallah. I was searching for the images the media so often likes to portray – of a city destroyed by war, stricken with poverty. However, I noticed how modern and beautiful the city was, as we drove past sushi restaurants and five-star hotels. We went to the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and met with a man who was not of Israeli or Palestinian descent, but Asian. This man had no relation to Israel or Palestine – just your typical civil servant.

He spoke about human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories. He lamented over Israeli settlers cutting down trees of Arab farmers, vandalizing mosques and other actions of the sort. He completely glossed over the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel (because that isn’t a big deal, right?) and barely touched on the stone throwing by Palestinians at Israelis driving through the West Bank (which has killed many).

The fact that he bypassed these subjects so smoothly was the first thing that was of concern to me. The second thing of concern was that this man did not know a word of Arabic or Hebrew. I wondered, how is he supposed to gain a first-hand experience of the trials and tribulations of the West Bank, Gaza and Israel when he files reports from within his airconditioned building without speaking to anyone on the ground?

Probably the strangest part of the entire trip was going to the PLO headquarters to visit Yasser Arafat’s memorial. I felt we stood there for an uncomfortably long time. I did not want to be disrespectful, but I in no way wanted to be mistaken as honoring him. I felt chills as I stood at the monument of a man who was thought of as a hero by the suicide bombers who killed so many Israelis over the years.

Yes - J-Street takes students on a trip to pay homage to a terrorist with the blood of hundreds of Jews on his hands!

(h/t Lauri)

Jordanian MB leader says "Jews" behind Egyptian coup

Dr. Hammam Said, a leader of Jordan's Muslim brotherhood, said that Egypt's coup was planned by the Jews and Arab followers of Iran in order to stop the Arab Spring.

These sorts of articles are all over the place nowadays.

Over the weekend Arab media reported that interim Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was really Jewish, saying his mother was a Moroccan Jew who belonged to a Jewish defense organization called "HaMagen" from 1948 to 1950. Another recent article said that Israel, the US and Saudi Arabia colluded to bring Morsi down.

And these are in newspapers, not crazy forums or chat groups.

7/22 Links Part 2: Extremism Escalating in the WB, Mira Nair’s Hypocrisy, Israels Changing Demography

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Extremism Escalating in the West Bank

The anti-Jewish and anti-American tirade came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry resumed his efforts to force Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership to return to the negotiating table with Israel.
Even if Abbas agreed to return to the negotiating table, he would always be afraid of the extremists, who are expected to step up their attacks on him as the talks with Israel proceed.
Unlike Kerry, Abbas sees and hears the voices of the extremists at the Aqsa Mosque and other Islamic holy sites in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. And this is precisely why Abbas will never agree to sign a peace deal with Israel: it would turn him into the biggest traitor in the the Palestinian and Islamic world.

US, Canada condemn ECOSOC anti-Israel resolution

Only the US and Canada opposed the resolution (43 yes, 2 no, 1 abstention-Haiti), which followed accusations from the Palestinian delegation of “racism and colonization,” and phrases such as “occupation is the ugliest form of racism and terrorism,” and “the State of Israel is a state of terror, settlers are terror, military are terror.” This was only matched by Syria which accused Israel of “stealing historical artifacts to lie about history” of the Golan and “imposing Hebrew on students.”
Another low point for the UN today.

The European Union: What Was Not Said

The EU might truly help the Palestinians by helping the development of the Palestinian economy, and the introduction of the rule of law, equal justice under law, transparent and accountable governance, a free press, and other human rights. Sadly, however, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that the EU is not so much interested in helping the Palestinians so much as in helping them to sabotage Jews.

Isi Leibler: Europe hypocritically lashes out against Israel

We must not concede to this malevolent new EU demand which, if played out further, would entail abandoning hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens. We must make every possible effort to prevent the EU from expanding this move toward broader sanctions. And we must make clear that while this discriminatory clause remains in effect, we can no longer consider the EU an honest broker or an intermediary in peace negotiations.
The European initiative is a wake-up call. While Israel has a powerful and resilient economy that can withstand trade restrictions, it cannot endure further isolation. We cannot write off Europe, but instead must exploit all our resources to shame the EU and more aggressively expose the double standards and bias it continues to employ against us.

Legal Experts to Tell Ashton: Cancel the EU Boycott

The appeal, which was declared on Saturday, is led by former Israeli Ambassador to Canada Alan Baker, who now serves as head of the International Action Division at the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.
Other signatories include former Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman and top jurists and international law experts Professor Eliav Shochetman and Professor Talia Einhorn, according to Israel Hayom.
The appeal, which the signatories plan to send to Ashton in the coming days, urges the European Commission to rescind its directive, arguing it is "based on misguided and legally flawed assumptions about the status of the Israeli settlements and the validity of the 1967 lines as Israel's borders.

Israel's fast evolving demography

Compared with the rapidly developing political and military situation in the Middle East, demographics change at a glacial pace. Yet demographic developments in Israel in recent years have been unfolding with unusual speed, and seem to be accelerating.
In the first 12 years of the current century the number of Arab births in Israel has almost completely flatlined at around 40,000 per annum. This despite the growing size of the Arab population, which means that the Arab birth rate – births relative to population size – has fallen. Over the same period, Jewish births have risen from 95,000 to 130,000. In the first four months of 2013, the most recent period for which data is available, Jewish births were up 38 percent during the same period for 2001, and Arab births down 6%.

Israelly Cool: Mira Nair’s Hypocrisy

Mira Nair, who apparently made some movies, said she is boycotting the Haifa Film festival because Israel is an apartheid state.
And who finances said film? The human rights bastion that is Qatar.
And what is the DFI? Just another racist oil-sheikh money laundering scheme. It may come as no surprise to you that although they claim that “Eligibility for DFI Grants has been extended to films from all nations“, Israel is not part of their world.

UK Clergyman Calls on Church to Repent for Past Anti-Semitism

An Anglican clergyman spoke on the church’s history of anti-Semitism and called on the institution to repent at the annual UK conference of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people.
“The Apostles would not recognize much in the church today. A Christianity divorced from its Jewish roots has always opened itself up to the demonic spirit of anti-Semitism,” said Rev. Simon Ponsonby, a theologian from St Aldate’s Church in Oxford, UK, according to the ASSIST News Service.

Natalie Portman heads to Israel to scout film locations

Hollywood megastar Natalie Portman is planning to visit Israel in the near future to scout locations for a new film. The film, based on the epic autobiographical novel "A Tale of Love and Darkness" by Israeli author Amos Oz, will be Portman's directorial debut. The actress will also star in the film.
According to sources, Portman's itinerary indicates that she will be landing in Israel this coming September.

From music student to infantryman

The 22-year-old soldier is part of the Givati Brigade, an amphibious combat unit. Currently based in the West Bank, he patrols and protects the borders and checkpoints. As a commander, he is responsible for the lives of 12 soldiers.
He had never thought he would be here.
After finishing high school in the suburb of Silver Spring, Maryland, Hoffman taught English in Beit Shemesh and studied at a Jerusalem yeshiva before returning to the US to attend New York University. He took classes in music business and formed the five-member Jewish rock band, JudaBlue.

Israel’s ‘museum-friendly’ app maker does the Guggenheim

Museums have benefited quietly but enormously from the smartphone revolution with apps guiding visitors through exhibits. These apps can save museums money and hassle by delivering information directly to visitors, enabling them to post fewer docents on the floor to answer questions.
Just as big a beneficiary has been an Israeli company called Espro Acoustiguide Group, a Kfar Saba-based company that supplies the technology for apps in use in hundreds of museums, national parks, zoos, and city tours around the world.

How to bolster ‘natural killer’ cells against flu

Our immune systems are equipped with “natural killer” (NK) cells that recognize and eliminate influenza-virus-infected cells in order to keep the virus from spreading.
If NK cells always worked perfectly, nobody would get sick with the flu. Obviously, something can go wrong because many people do get flu. Israeli doctoral student Yotam Bar-On tackled this mystery, and his findings could lead to a whole new way of treating this sometimes deadly viral infection.

A great CAMERA video:

King David's palace unearthed?

The media has had a lot of articles in the past couple of days about a major find that, some say, would have been one of King David's palaces in Khirbet Qeiyafa.

What's the actual evidence?

From Israel Antiquities Authority:

Two royal public buildings, the likes of which have not previously been found in the Kingdom of Judah of the tenth century BCE, were uncovered this past year by researchers of the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa – a fortified city in Judah dating to the time of King David and identified with the biblical city of Shaarayim.

One of the buildings is identified by the researchers, Professor Yossi Garfinkel of the Hebrew University and Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority, as David’s palace, and the other structure served as an enormous royal storeroom.

Today (Thursday) the excavation, which was conducted over the past seven years, is drawing to a close. According to Professor Yossi Garfinkel and Sa'ar Ganor, “Khirbet Qeiyafa is the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David. The southern part of a large palace that extended across an area of c. 1,000 sq m was revealed at the top of the city. The wall enclosing the palace is c. 30 m long and an impressive entrance is fixed it through which one descended to the southern gate of the city, opposite the Valley of Elah. Around the palace’s perimeter were rooms in which various installations were found – evidence of a metal industry, special pottery vessels and fragments of alabaster vessels that were imported from Egypt. The palace is located in the center of the site and controls all of the houses lower than it in the city. From here one has an excellent vantage looking out into the distance, from as far as the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Hebron Mountains and Jerusalem in the east. This is an ideal location from which to send messages by means of fire signals. Unfortunately, much of this palace was destroyed c. 1,400 years later when a fortified farmhouse was built there in the Byzantine period”.

A pillared building c. 15 m long by 6 m wide was exposed in the north of the city, which was used as an administrative storeroom. According to the researchers, “It was in this building the kingdom stored taxes it received in the form of agricultural produce collected from the residents of the different villages in the Judean Shephelah. Hundreds of large store jars were found at the site whose handles were stamped with an official seal as was customary in the Kingdom of Judah for centuries”.

The palace and storerooms are evidence of state sponsored construction and an administrative organization during King David’s reign. “This is unequivocal evidence of a kingdom’s existence, which knew to establish administrative centers at strategic points”, the archaeologists say. “To date no palaces have been found that can clearly be ascribed to the early tenth century BCE as we can do now. Khirbet Qeiyafa was probably destroyed in one of the battles that were fought against the Philistines circa 980 BCE. The palace that is now being revealed and the fortified city that was uncovered in recent years are another tier in understanding the beginning of the Kingdom of Judah”.

AP adds:

Garfinkel said his team found cultic objects typically used by Judeans, the subjects of King David, and saw no trace of pig remains. Pork is forbidden under Jewish dietary laws. Clues like these, he said, were "unequivocal evidence" that David and his descendants had ruled at the site.

Critics said the site could have belonged to other kingdoms of the area. The consensus among most scholars is that no definitive physical proof of the existence of King David has been found.

Garfinkel believes King David lived permanently in Jerusalem in a yet-undiscovered site, only visiting Khirbet Qeiyafa or other palaces for short periods. He said the site's placement on a hill indicates that the ruler sought a secure site on high ground during a violent era of frequent conflicts between city-states.

"The time of David was the first time that a large portion of this area was united by one monarch," Garfinkel said. "It was not a peaceful era."

The archaeologists seem to have dated the structure quite precisely to the time of David's reign, which was from 1002–970 BCE, or shortly thereafter. They identified the seals in the storerooms as being from Judah. There is no evidence of non-kosher animal bones. (We know the Philistines raised and ate pig meat; there is disagreement among scholars whether Canaanites ate pork as well. They apparently ate donkey at times.) Also, there is evidence of some Hebrew writings at the site.

Definitively calling this "David's palace" seems a little premature to me, but Khirbet Qeiyafa seems to be very good proof of the early Judean kingdom.

"Khaybar" antisemitic miniseries available on US DISH TV (UPDATE x2 - No it's not)

Dish-TV, a US-based satellite TV service, offers the Dubai Satellite Channel:

This channel is showing the antisemitic miniseries, "Khaybar."

So incitement against Jews is not only available in the Arab world - which is bad enough - but also in the US, as well as Europe.

Not that "human rights organizations" care about the rights of Jews, as they have continuously refused to comment on this show.

Atlas Shrugs has information on how to complain to Dish-TV. So far they are simply saying that they are not responsible for the programming they play.

(h/t youandme2 and MEMRI)

UPDATE: This appears to be the proper online FCC form to complain. (h/t Dave4321)

UPDATE 2: It looks like Dish dropped Dubai Satellite Channel in May, before the series. MEMRI corrected it. (h/t Bob)

Felesteen, a Hamas newspaper, reports that the deputy head of the "political bureau" of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk, is accusing Egypt of wanting to exercise sovereignty over the Gaza Strip as it had before 1967.

Reports from Gaza indicate that this morning, for the third time this month, Egyptian helicopters hovered over the sector, apparently during Egyptian army operations to destroy smuggling tunnels.

Israel has not interfered with Egyptian aircraft over Gaza.

Marzouk says that the helicopters show that Egypt wants to re-assert its rule over Gaza. This is, of course, nonsense - no one wants Gaza. Gazans would leave en masse if a single Arab country would welcome them as equal citizens. But that vaunted Arab hospitality and support for their Palestinian brethren only goes so far. (Even when Egypt controlled Gaza, they kept it as a sort of prison for all Palestinians who ended up in Egypt.)

Marzouk also reiterated that Hamas has no desire to attack Egypt, and that all the news reports about Hamas members being arrested or killed along with Sinai jihadists are lies.

7/22 Links Part 1: Great Expectations, PA Spokesmen Deny Talks, EU Finally Labels Hezbollah Terrorists

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Great expectations

Why should Israelis who have already paid the ultimate price be forced to undergo such an indignity? Has Abbas done anything constructive, such as prepare his people for painful concessions necessary to reach an agreement with Israel, to deserve such a gesture? Previous prisoner releases have failed to soften Palestinian stands. Most likely they have achieved the opposite, since Palestinians have learned it is possible to exact concessions from Israel without reciprocating.
Despite the dangers ahead, a comprehensive agreement between the sides is the only way to prevent the creation of a bi-national state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, and ensure that Israel remains both Jewish and democratic. It is also the only way for the Palestinians to achieve their national aspirations - one reached through dialogue, mutual concessions and goodwill, and not aggression and threats.
We offer full support to Kerry’s initiative and hope that a just agreement with the Palestinians will result in peace and security for both sides.

Both Abbas’s spokesmen say no deal yet to restart talks

Contradicting Secretary of State John Kerry, spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement late Sunday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to send a delegate to Washington merely to continue lower-level preliminary talks with an Israeli counterpart about the terms for negotiations.
A second Abbas spokesman, Yasser Abed Rabbo, had made similar comments earlier Sunday. Abu Rudeineh and Abed Rabbo are the only Palestinian officials authorized to speak on the matter.

Israel, PA Accept Martin Indyk as Mediator in Negotiations

Indyk criticized President Barack Obama's Middle East policy in 2009. He said that Obama and U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell have failed in the Middle East.
“It’s clear that things are not going as he planned,” Indyk said at an Omaha, Nebraska forum. He explained that President Obama counted on the support of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, who rebuffed the overtures for even a minor compromise regarding the 2002 Saudi initiative.
Indyk also failed the president and Mitchell for focusing on trying to freeze building for Jews in Judea and Samaria. The former ambassador said that they violated a basic rule in negotiations in the Middle East: don’t get bogged down in details.
“George Mitchell didn’t hear that sucking sound,” Indyk added.

Analysis: ‘Wanting it more than the parties themselves’
What if the type of Palestinian state that Netanyahu is willing to give is not the type of state Abbas can accept?

At 78-years-old, is he going to want to be the one to go down in Palestinian history as the leader to have closed the door on all the maximalist Palestinian aspirations, including the right of refugees and their descendants to return to pre-1967 Israel? And do his people – and Hamas is a big part of his people – want him to do so? Kerry is forcing the issue, dragging the sides back to the table kicking and screaming. For this he has already won many plaudits. But is what is good for Kerry and America’s standing in the region, necessarily good for Israel and the Palestinians?

Analysis: Arab world pessimistic on renewed peace talks

The Arab world – which is divided on almost any element including Shi’ites and Sunnis, radical and conservative Muslims, various states and tribes – appear to unite in their pessimistic outlook of the planned, US-moderated peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet some Arab newspapers, instead of focusing on this issue, have focused their commentary on other conflicts in the region.

Arab League Blames Israel Before Talks Even Start

Sabih added that the Arab League was monitoring Israel's stance so the talks were not simply "negotiations for the sake of negotiations, going round in a vicious circle".
"This could be the last chance to revive the stalled peace process," he noted.

Keeping BBC audience’s eyes on the ‘settlements’ ball

Some might say that “further complicated” is a bit of an understatement. The fact that the PA is not in control of part of the territory it will be negotiating about, and upon which it hopes to establish a state, is clearly a huge issue, as is the fact that the PA president’s legitimate mandate to sign anything on behalf of the Palestinian people expired years ago. Another glaring problem is that the PA clearly cannot claim to be able to give security guarantees on behalf of the range of terrorist organisations including Hamas, the PFLP, the DFLP and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad which are openly hostile to negotiations.

Indy’s political editor misrepresents David Ward’s vile Holocaust remarks

As the quote clearly indicates, Ward was castigating Jews as Jews for, a mere few years after liberation from the death camps in 1945, evidently not learning the correct moral lessons and thus beginning immediately to inflict atrocities on Palestinians.
Jews, ‘of all people’, an exasperated Ward was in effect exclaiming, had visited upon the Palestinians a level of cruelty and violence which arguably evoke the crimes committed against their co-religionists in the death camps throughout Europe – a “they of all people” argument which Howard Jacobson aptly characterized as leaving the Jewish people doubly damned: to the Holocaust itself and to elevated moral scrutiny as a result of it.

EU agrees to place Hezbollah military wing on terror list

Britain has sought to persuade the EU to put the Shiite Muslim group's military wing on the bloc's terrorism list since May, citing evidence that it was behind a bus bombing in Bulgaria last year which killed five Israelis and their driver.
Israel's Justice Minister welcomed the decision, saying "after years of deliberations and going back and forth on the matter, the argument that Hezbollah was a political movement and their attempt to whitewash their terrorist activity has failed."

PA Children Call for 'Liberation' of Palestine'

The video, which was recently recorded at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is a good example of the radical Islamic education given to children in the PA.
The video shows a boy about 12 years of age, standing next to two children aged 8-9. The 12-year-old received the honor of giving the sermon to the thousands of Muslim worshipers who were in attendance that day. He is seen wearing a Hizb ut-Tahrir scarf, and huge banners praising the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate can be viewed in the background.
The PA child attacks in his sermon the idea of a democratic regime, calls on Islamic nations to stand up to their values, and urges Muslim armies not to be negligent in their duty to free the Al-Aqsa Mosque while ignoring the positions of the United States.

Netanyahu: Morsi ouster shows weakness of Islamist movements

In rare remarks on Egypt's government crisis, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has suggested that the fall of the president, Mohamed Morsi, demonstrates the weaknesses of political Islamist movements.
"I believe that over the long haul these radical Islamic regimes are going to fail because they don't offer the adequate enfranchisement that you need to develop a country economically, politically and culturally," Netanyahu told the German weekly Welt am Sonntag.
He said he thought radical Islamism was wholly unsuited to dealing with a global economic and information revolution, and "goes right back to medievalism against the whole thrust of modernity, so over time it's bound to fail."

Syria accused of gassing Palestinian refugee camp

The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces said Sunday that the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus had been gassed by regime forces amid heavy fighting.
According to Israel Radio, at least 22 people were killed in the Sunday attack, the majority from inhalation of toxic gases, according to Palestinian sources cited in the report.

Red Crescent to make ‘halal’ drugs with Turkish blood

Akar told daily Hurriyet that the move could both eliminate dependence on drugs imports, as well as providing Muslim Turks with assurances that their medicine complies with their religious codes.
"For instance, if we are buying medicine from Britain, it is made out of the blood and plasma of the blood of the people of that country. We have different dietary habits from those countries. Being a Muslim nation, we do not eat pork. We don’t eat some of problematic foods, but these exist in the medicine that we import,” he said.

PA minister admits any agreement with Israel would be a scam

From Palestinian Media Watch:

PA Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash::
"We hate war. We don't want war. We don't want bloodshed, not for ourselves, nor for others. We want peace. We say this because our culture is founded on this, and because our religion is based on this. Yes, we want peace, but not any peace. We want a peace based on justice, therefore the Palestinian leadership and the PLO have not missed any opportunity for peace...

The Palestinian leadership's sense of responsibility towards its nation made it take political steps about 20 years ago (i.e., signing the Oslo Accords). Despite the controversy, despite much criticism and much opposition by some, it brought us to where we are today: We have a [Palestinian] Authority and the world recognizes the [Palestinian] state.

All this never would have happened through Hamas' impulsive adventure, but only through the wisdom of the leadership, conscious action, consideration, and walking the right path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, even though some opposed it...

The hearts of the Prophet's companions burned with anger and fury. The Prophet said: 'I'm the Messenger of Allah and I will not disobey Him.' This is not disobedience, it is politics. This is crisis management, situation management, conflict management...

Allah called this treaty a clear victory...

Omar ibn Al-Khattab said: 'Messenger of Allah, is this a victory? Is this logical? Is this victory? We are giving up and going back, and not entering Mecca. Is that a victory?' The Prophet said: 'Yes, it is a victory.'

In less than two years, the Prophet returned and based on this treaty, he conquered Mecca. This is the example, this is the model."
[Official Palestinian Authority TV, July 19, 2013]

As PMW notes:

The Hudaybiyyah peace treaty was a 10-year truce that Muhammad, Islam's Prophet, made with the Quraish Tribe of Mecca. However, two years into the truce, Muhammad attacked and conquered Mecca. The PA Minister of Religious Affairs stressed in his Friday sermon that Muhammad’s agreeing to the Hudaybiyyah treaty was not "disobedience" to Allah, but was "politics" and "crisis management." The minister emphasized that in spite of the peace treaty, two years later Muhammad "conquered Mecca." He ended his comparison by expressing the view that the Hudaybiyyah agreement is not just past history, but that "this is the example and this is the model."

Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, there have been senior PA officials who have presented the peace process with Israel as a deceptive tactic that both facilitated the PA's five-year terror campaign against Israel (the Intifada), and which will weaken Israel through territorial compromise that will eventually lead to Israel's destruction.