Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, September 09, 2013

EoZ and other Zionist bloggers profiled in Jerusalem Report

There is a very nice article in the Jerusalem Report by Tibor Krausz about pro-Israel bloggers, including me, IsraellyCool, Arnold Roth and Richard Landes. Here's the PDF (including some of my cartoons.)

Blogging Their Hearts Out by Tibor Krausz

Here are the parts that mention me, but read the whole thing.

Pro-Israel bloggers clearly have their work cut out for them, but that doesn’t faze perhaps the most influential one of them. “We definitely make a difference,” insists the New York-based IT professional who goes by the cyberspace nom de guerre of Elder of Ziyon and enjoys regular attention from mainstream media outlets for his investigative scoops.

Elder, who chose his pseudonym to poke fun at cockamamie conspiracy theories about Jewish power, began frequenting Yahoo message boards a decade ago to challenge the views and logic of Israel’s garrulous detractors. “Arguing one-on-one with people emotionally invested in hating Israel was a big waste of time,” the blogger, who prefers to remain anonymous and describes himself as a “fairly ordinary middle-aged Jewish guy,” tells The Report. “I looked for alternatives where I could write more freely and expansively for a larger audience.”

So in August 2004, he started his own blog. After a first few tentative steps of simply reposting items from the mainstream media, he soon came into his own as a seemingly indefatigable one-man operation, armed only with a computer, chutzpa and stamina. In several new posts daily, except on Shabbat, the blogger — who reaches some 10,000 readers a day and has many fans far and wide, Israel included — links to the latest articles of interest on the Middle East, parses media reports for inaccuracies and overt biases, provides satirical rebuttals to Israel’s fiercest critics, and highlights the Jewish State’s little-publicized achievements. “It takes up a few hours a day; but then again, that’s less time than most people spend watching TV,” he says.

He spends some of that time digging up archival records about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and perusing damning reports by NGOs and the UN on Israeli policy to verify the credibility of their sources and double-check their conclusions. Recently, after delving into a UN document and poring over photographs of damaged buildings in Gaza, he discovered that two Palestinian children whose deaths had been blamed on Israel during its week-long Operation Pillar of Defense offensive against Hamas militants last November, including the much-publicized death of a local BBC correspondent’s young son, had in fact been killed by Hamas rockets. His findings made the headlines.

“Pro-Israel bloggers have served as a sort of ‘information Iron Dome,’” says Dovid Efune, a British Jew who edits the New York-based weekly The Algemeiner Journal, whose website hosts some 500 Jewish bloggers. “During Israel’s Pillar of Defense, they were at the forefront of exposing and intercepting routine bits of misinformation by Hamas before they could land. Hamas and other anti-Israel actors were routinely releasing pictures of bloodied, maimed or dead children with the aim of whipping up anti-Israel sentiments. In many cases, the pictures [some of which were picked up by the mainstream media] were false, taken from different conflicts or scenarios. Larger news organizations [rarely bother combing through] Twitter feeds or translating Arabic Facebook pages.”

But Elder of Ziyon does. Running regular Google News searches on keywords in Arabic, then turning to his trusted aide, the Google Translate tool, the blogger scours the Arab-language news media for reports and op-eds about Israel, mocking, exploring and deconstructing the foibles of anti-Israel firebrands from Iran’s Press TV to Al Jazeera to the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an.

“At this very moment, I did an Arabic news search for ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’” he explains. “It came up with five articles. One was from a Baathist website saying the US involvement in Syria is just like the Jewish/Freemason methods detailed in the ‘Protocols’ for taking over the world. The second was from a Jordanian columnist who sees the ‘Protocols’ behind Turkey’s current troubles. The third came from Egypt’s Al Wafd [a supposedly liberal daily], which claims to have uncovered a nefarious plot by the singer Madonna to convert the world to Judaism through [her study of] Kabbala. She’s also of course using the ‘Protocols’ as her playbook. There’s always some good material there!”

In March, the blogger revealed that the Arabic version of the website of MIFTAH, an EU-funded “moderate” NGO headed by prominent Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, ran an article promoting the old libel that Jews used the blood of Christians and Muslims for their matza at Passover. Cue an international hue and cry. MIFTAH lashed out at the “obscure pro-Israeli” blogger over his “smear campaign” before issuing an apology, in English, a few days later.

“Many pro-Israel bloggers are doing cutting-edge work,” stresses Benjamin Weinthal, a veteran American journalist who is The Jerusalem Post’s correspondent in Berlin. “They’re breaking stories either on their blogs or on social media sites like Twitter.” Weinthal first took notice of Elder’s work in September 2009, when the blogger revealed that Marc Garlasco, an American official for Human Rights Watch and a fierce critic of Israel, turned out, under closer inspection, to be an avid collector of Nazi memorabilia.

“I’ve written several articles based on [revelations by] pro-Israel blogs,” Weinthal says. One of those articles revolved around findings that Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian activist for the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement who was murdered by Islamists in Gaza in 2011, called Jews “rats” and posted anti-Semitic cartoons on his Facebook page.” He adds: “Bloggers have carved out new territory for themselves by zooming in on stories that remain in the cracks or on the edges of mainstream news coverage. They bring these stories front and center into the mainstream.”

Elder himself downplays his influence. “I’ve been fortunate that some of my posts do bubble up to [the mainstream media] but too much of the stuff we bloggers do stays stuck in our little world,” he remarks.
...

“My standard reaction [to being labeled a paid propagandist] is: ‘When do I get my check?’” Elder of Ziyon quips. “The idea that we’re ‘well-coordinated’ is itself hilarious. Some [anti-Israel blogger] can, with a single tweet, mobilize thousands of people to create a trending topic on Twitter or to vote in some online poll,” he says. “Our side can’t even figure out how to put together a single site that looks as professional as +972 Magazine [an online publication by the Israeli left].”

He himself uses a plain and free Blogspot template for his site.

“We each have our own ideas on how to relate to Islam, on whether to embrace the two-state solution, on what issues are important,” Elder goes on. “I’m in touch with other bloggers, of course, but there’s no Hasbara Central. We have lots of generals and very few troops.”

...As with journalists, so with bloggers, credibility is an important issue. Operating without any editorial control in the Internet’s raucous free-for-all, freelance bloggers can blow hot and cold as they please. “Any way you slice it, a regular person will instinctively trust Reuters as being less biased than someone called ‘Elder of Ziyon,’” the eponymous blogger says. “I try to substitute transparency for my anonymity, so I back up my arguments with references to original sources.”

9/09 Links Part 1: 7 Pillars of ME Idiocy, Abbas Not Stopping Terror Attacks, PA Still Honoring Terrorists

From Ian:

Barry Rubin: Obama Administration: The New Seven Pillars of "Wisdom" on the Middle East, Part One

These are the new (hopefully temporary): The White House’s Seven Pillars of Idiocy in the Middle East:
One: Other than aid and official government rhetoric, the United States is now neutral on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and, to put it more accurately, tilting toward the Palestinian side.
This does not mean disaster for Israel—and no Israeli official will say so in public--but it is a strategic reality.
Of course the talks will not go anywhere because the Palestinians know that they have a strong hand and they will overplay it. But, the administration’s willingness to punish Israel to win public relations points and shore up the doomed U.S. alignment with Islamists had to be reckoned with.

Amos Gilad: Strong Arab Sunni bloc doesn't see Israel as enemy

A powerful Middle Eastern axis of Sunni states has taken form in the region, which “does not view Israel as a sworn enemy” and has successfully kept extremist jihadi terrorism at bay, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad said on Sunday.
Speaking before the Institute for Counter-Terrorism’s international summit in Herzliya, Gilad, who is director of the Political-Military Affairs Bureau at the Defense Ministry, said that Israel “won’t ever be accepted as a formal member” of the Sunni axis, but that the states that make it up all view the US as the sole superpower and that their regional policies are indirectly beneficial for Israel.

Abbas Scorecard on Stopping Terror: 5,700 Attempts to Kill in 2013

The resumption of “peace talks’ between the Palestinian Authority and Israel in July came one month after 660 rock and firebomb attacks in June in Judea and Samaria, according to figures compiled by the “Hatzalah’ Judea and Samaria Emergency teams.
In the first six months of 2013, Hatzalah recorded 5,635 attempts to injure and murder Jews, including 611 Molotov cocktail attacks, eight shootings, three stabbings and 5,144 rock-throwing attacks that are intended to force drivers into fatal accidents, such as the one that killed American Israel Asher Palmer and his two-year-old son two years ago.
The statistics do not include terrorists’ blockage of roads and arson. At least 180 people were wounded from January through June, including 10 in June, and many of them still suffer from trauma and refuse to travel anywhere except in buses that have extra-thick plastic windows to protect it from rock attacks.

PMW: Terrorist featured in Palestinian education and culture as role model

Terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most lethal terror attack against Israel, is still being presented as a role model by Fatah, and being endorsed as such by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
In 1978, Dalal Mughrabi led a group of terrorists who hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Recently, Abbas awarded $6,000 to a dance group named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi:

Jordanian children taught that terrorist Mughrabi is role model

Jordanian actress Najla Sahwil on PA TV:
"When I was growing up, I dreamt of playing the part of that great personality, Dalal Mughrabi. We grew up in school on the personality of this Palestinian female fighter. In first grade, I was throwing stones. In school we were nursed on the politics of Palestine, when we were little kids."

Khaled Abu Toameh: Hamas aims to open naval military academy in Gaza

Hamas is planning to open a naval academy soon in the Gaza Strip, Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad announced on Sunday.
He said that the new institution, which would be part of the police academy, would be an “extension of all marine sciences which benefit the society in civilian and other affairs.”

Assad says his friends will hit US and allies if struck

Syrian President Bashar Assad warned America and its allies to expect multiple forms of retaliation, possibly including a chemical attack, if the US goes ahead with a military strike on Syria, in remarks published Monday by CBS News.
Assad, speaking to Charlie Rose in a Damascus interview, said Syria was “not the only player in the region” and, if an attack occurs, the US and allies in return “should expect everything. Not necessarily from the government.”

Syrian Warplanes Test British Air Defenses in Cyprus

RAF Typhoon fighters won a mid-air showdown with two Syrian warplanes heading towards Britain’s main base in Cyprus, the Sunday People reports.
The dramatic confrontation came after President Bashar Al-Assad’s air chiefs sent two Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24s to probe British air defenses, the report said.
The Syrian bombers refused to respond to repeated attempts by the control tower at the UK’s Akrotiri air base to contact them.

Turkey Moving Jets and Troops to Syrian Border

Over the past week, Turkey also moved convoys of military vehicles carrying equipment and personnel between its bases near the southeastern border.
Local media speculated, according to RT, that the Turkish move might be related to an accident last Tuesday, in which a package of live ammunition exploded while being smuggled into Turkey. Six people were killed in the incident at the border.
It has been suggested by the media that the additional troops will be the first to respond to a possible strike by Syria.

Arad: Attack On Syria May Not Bring About Positive Result

Speaking Sunday at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's (ICT) World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, taking place at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Arad said that President Barack H. Obama had bitten off more than he could chew, and that the best thing he could do now was extricate himself from the corner he had backed himself into with as much dignity as possible.
“Syria is not a signatory to international conventions against the use of chemical weapons,” said Arad, so the legal basis for intervention by the West was somewhat shoddy. “You cannot say that Assad violated an international convention Syria is not signed onto.” Assad, therefore, sees no reason not to use such weapons against anyone he feels threatens his rule.

Syria Amassed Chemical Stockpile with Western Help

Syria’s leaders amassed one of the world’s largest stockpiles of chemical weapons with help from the Soviet Union and Iran, as well as Western European suppliers and even a handful of American companies, American diplomatic cables and declassified intelligence records reveal, according to the New York Times.

Syria Strike: Nine Arab Countries on Board

According to Al Jazeera, Kerry said a number of Arab countries were willing to sign a statement issued by 12 countries of the G20 summit earlier this week, which called for a response to the chemical weapons attack. Announcements regarding this decision would be made in the next 24 hours, he added.

Arab Christians come out strongly against US strike in Syria

At a conference of more than 50 regional Christian leaders and a handful of global Christians and Muslim scholars in Amman this week, the dangers of Western intervention to the region's Christian minorities emerged as one of the strongest themes. With political Islam on the rise after the Arab uprisings of 2011, the region's ancient Christian communities are already feeling under threat and have the recent example of the devastation of Iraq's Christian community following the US-led invasion of 2003 to make them worry about the consequences of action.

Author of WSJ Op-Ed Supporting Syrian Rebels Has Ties With Islamist Group

Elizabeth O’Bagy, identified by the Wall Street Journal as senior analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, wrote in her op-ed that the Syrian civil war “is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al Qaeda die-hards.”
But Daniel Greenfield wrote Sept. 4 for FrontPage Magazine that the Wall Street Journal op-ed did not disclose that O’Bagy is also the political director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force—making her an advocate, not just an analyst, on the issue she wrote about. The task force’s board of directors includes officials of the Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim American Society, the Hamas-linked Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center mosque, and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Chicago, which advocates for a boycott of Israel. Mouaz Moustafa—the task force’s executive director and a Palestinian Arab—on Twitter has called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, and on YouTube marked an anti-Israel video from a channel called “JewsExposed” as one of his favorite videos, according to Greenfield.

Overrated: Hassan Rouhani

Rouhani is unlikely to invoke heavenly creatures from the UN podium, as Ahmedinejad did; he will probably refrain from engaging in Holocaust denial; and he will seek to engage the West in substantive negotiations to end the nuclear impasse.
He is definitely more moderate than Ahmadinejad, then — much as Nikita Khrushchev was more moderate than Joseph Stalin. But he is no Mikhail Gorbachev.
In a sense, there has been a softening in rhetoric, but no evidence yet that in substance Rouhani will be any different from his predecessors. And why should he be?

Sinai Terror Group Claims Failed Attempt on Minister's Life

The attempted assassination occurred as a car bomb ripped through the interior minister’s convoy as he was leaving home for work on Thursday.
One person was killed but Ibrahim, who was travelling in an armored car, survived the attempt unhurt.
The terrorist group apologized in the statement “for not killing the tyrant,” pledging more attacks against Ibrahim and the commander of Egypt’s military, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis is an extremist Salafist group that has in the past claimed responsibility for an attempted rocket attack on the Israeli resort city of Eilat.

Egypt: 'Israeli Spy Stork' Killed and Eaten

Nature Conservation Egypt told the newspaper that the White Stork, which they named Menes, was released into a conservation area in southern Egypt but flew to an island in the Nile where it was caught and eaten.
The group said on a Facebook post, "Storks have been part of the Nubian diet for thousands of years, so the actual act of eating storks is not in itself a unique practice. However, the short-lived success story of getting Menes released was not enough to keep him safe till he exited Egypt.

Today's Iranian/Shiite/Syrian threat against Israel, Turkey and Gulf states

From Iran's ABNA agency:

Leader of the Lebanese Towhid (Monotheism) Movement Wiam Wahhab warned that hundreds of missiles will rain down on Israel the very moment Syria comes under a foreign military attack.

"The first bullet fired at Syria will be reciprocated by 500 missiles against Tel Aviv," Wahhab, also a former Lebanese minister, said in an interview with Lebanon's Jadidah TV channel on Monday.

"This is no rhetoric, I am speaking the truth and telling you the reality," he added.

Wahhab warned of Syria's retaliatory measures against any possible foreign military aggression, and said Damascus' reaction will not be limited to Israel, but it will also include Turkey and other regional countries and the Persian Gulf littoral states which are collaborating with Washington in the war on Syria.

Note how Iran's threats are explicitly against Muslim countries. This despite Iran's pretense of wanting Muslim unity:

The World Forum for Proximity is an international organization founded by Iran. Its main aim is to create more unity and solidarity among Muslims worldwide, regardless of their schools of thought.

Looks like the World Forum for Proximity and its annual Muslim Unity Conference in Tehran are not succeeding very well even it their host country.

UN report on Middle East, illustrated

Here is a graphical synopsis of the UN's August 20th report to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East. I reduced the size of the font for each new paragraph (except the conclusion) to give an idea of how the UN prioritizes Israel/PA, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

20 of the 31 paragraphs either were fully or partially about Israel, including the first 16.

You would hardly know that during this reporting period, Syria killed some 1400 people with chemical weapons (paragraph 24.)

Also note that the paragraphs about Israel have detailed statistics on settlement activity, arrests, illegal structures torn down and so forth. No such specifics are given for people being murdered in Syria by the thousands.

(h/t Gidon S. and Mida)

The Guardian says Jews perform female genital mutilation (UPDATES)

From The Guardian:

Campaigners say that a tangled mix of family pressure, cultural traditions and religious motivations make FGM – illegal for almost 30 years in the UK – hard to eradicate. It has been documented in 28 countries in Africa and in a few countries in Asia and the Middle East. The practice involves removing all or part of the external female genitalia (including the clitoris, labia minora and labia majora – and in some cases the narrowing of the vagina), and is usually carried out before the age of 15. As well as the risk of bleeding to death or infection, a terrifying array of physical and psychological problems can follow.

Today 30,000 girls in the UK are said to be at risk of this form of mutilation, while 66,000 live with the consequences of it. Yet no one has ever been prosecuted for carrying out or abetting the practice (which carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years).

...Although Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities carry out FGM, mainstream spiritual leaders from all three religions have denied that the practice stems from religion.

Do any Jewish communities carry out FGM?

There are two different sources that I can find, one which is almost certainly false and one which appears to have been true, years ago.

In the book Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant In Judaism by Shaye J. D. Cohen, he tracks down a single mention of the practice among Egyptian Jews by Greek geographer Strabo. After looking at the evidence, however, Cohen believes it was simply a mistake on Strabo's part, as he was assuming that Jews from Egypt had taken on Egyptian customs. He quotes Philo as being quite emphatic on the matter that Egyptian Jewish men, not women, were circumcised.

The second source, which seems much more authoritative, comes from the paper "Ritual female genital surgery among Ethiopian Jews" by Grisaru, Lezer and Belmaker of Ben Gurion University of the Negev. In their article they note that most Ethiopian Jewish women claimed to have undergone female circumcision, although only 27% showed any physical signs of any surgery, which is in itself an interesting anthropological issue as far as how much to trust what people say in surveys.

The astonishing part, though, is that as soon as the Ethiopian Jews arrived in Israel, the practice ceased completely. This shows that they did it because of the surrounding Ethiopian culture, but no one claimed - even as a folktale - that this was a Jewish custom. Belmaker wrote a separate paper about this phenomenon:

A group of Ethiopian Jews who had immigrated to Israel was interviewed by an Amharic translator, and examined during routine gynecological examination...All women interviewed reported that FGM was universal in Ethiopia, but none intended to continue this practice with their daughters. All stated that this was a practice that would be left behind in their country of origin. ...

Ethiopian Jews, who practiced a major form of FGM in Ethiopia, give up the custom upon arrival in Israel and no reports exist among pediatricians, gynecologists or the press of FGM among Jews of Ethiopian origin in Israel.

While the only verified cases of FGM among Jews were the anomalous instances from Ethiopia, the practice today has completely disappeared among that community.

Which means that the Guardian is, once again, wrong.

One fact from the second Belmaker paper should have been included in the Guardian article, but wasn't. Bedouin Muslim women who had practiced FGM in Israel have also abandoned the practice, except in a symbolic form, in recent decades. This means that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has managed to effectively eradicate FGM - far more successfully than even Western countries have been!

A good reporter would have found out that piece of information. A good reporter would have spent time to research and write why Israel has been successful in eradicating FGM when the UK has so many thousands of cases of women being mutilated every year.

That would be a good story, but, again, this is the Guardian.

UPDATE: CiFWatch, predictably, has an excellent response to the Guardian.

UPDATE 2: The article was corrected.

Iraqi Shiites threaten US with suicide bombings

From Iran's FARS News:

Leader of Iraq’s Jaysh Al-Mukhtar (Al-Mukhtar army) Sheikh Wathiq al-Battat vowed to target Washington's interests in Iraq and the Persian Gulf region by thousands of martyrdom-seeking (suicide) operations if the US attacks Syria.

Speaking to FNA in Baghdad on Sunday, Sheikh Al-Battat said that his group has "23,000 fully-trained and equipped martyrdom-seeking forces who can blow the US interests in Iraq and the Persian Gulf at any time if the US commits such a stupid act".

Sheikh Al-Battat warned against any adventurism against the Syrian nation, and reiterated that the US will not be immune from the martyrdom-seeking operations of his warriors.

Given that Al Battat admits that he receives support from Iran, his statement - trumpeted in Iranian media - neatly proves that Iran directly supports terrorists.

Egyptian kid journalist asks people if they heard of the Holocaust

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an Egyptian show titled "Anybody Knows?!", which was posted on the Internet on May 19, 2013.

Title: "Anybody Knows?!"

In the studio

Little boy: Welcome to our show. Today, we'll be talking about…

On the street

What is the Holocaust?

Woman: The what?

Little boy: The Holocaust.

Woman: I don't know.

Man: The Holocaust? I've got no idea.

Young man: Give me some options to choose from. In Germany? I've heard about it, but don't know exactly what happened.

Another young man: The what?

Little boy: The Holocaust…

Young man: Holocaust? Can you repeat the question?

Little boy: The Holocaust.

Young man: What Holocaust? I have no idea.

Old woman: I don't know.

Young woman: Why don't you tell me what it is? I told you that I don't know. There's nothing wrong with learning from someone younger than you.

Man: Ah, the Holocaust? You mean Hitler's Holocaust? During the war, he burned [Jews] in crematoria.

Another woman: Hitler captured the Jews and burned and gassed them. He killed many of them. I'm not convinced that this really happened though.

Another man: This is a new term. It's the first time I've heard it in Egypt.

Youth: Either he burned the Jews, or the Jews burned… I don't exactly remember.

Young man: The Holocaust took place during World War II. Hitler rounded up the Jews and put them in things called gas chambers. There are disputes regarding the figures. Some say three million Jews were killed, and others say it was one million. Some question whether it occurred.

In the studio

Little boy: In the Holocaust, lots of people were rounded up and killed.

Israelis saving the world, again

From NoCamels:

Dr. Sarit Larisch

“Killing these cancer stem cells is the holy grail of cancer treatments and therefore holds promise for complete eradication of cancer,” says Dr. Sarit Larisch of the University of Haifa.

These are not words pronounced lightly; instead, they follow more than a decade of research that could give hope to cancer patients worldwide. Along with her colleagues, Larisch has established the basis for developing a new, more effective treatment for cancer using a protein called ARTS.

ARTS is a protein, which along with a number of other proteins and enzymes, regulates what is known as apoptosis. Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death which occurs when a cell is damaged, mutated or no longer functional. ARTS acts as a trigger for cell death, its presence allowing for enzymes called caspases to destroy the non-functional cell.

But this process is missing in cancer cells.

Larisch’s research shows that unlike normal cells, cancer cells have an absence of the ARTS protein. “Without the ARTS protein, cells can’t be triggered to self-destruct. As a result cancer cells can survive and develop into a tumor,” she tells NoCamels.

“We have found that ARTS is lost in many types of cancers. Therefore, determining levels of ARTS in blood could provide a marker to alert to the possibility of developing certain types of cancers.” Consequently, Dr. Larisch believes that small molecules that mimic ARTS could restore the ability of cancer cells to be killed selectively using the natural process of apoptosis.

“ARTS-based cancer drugs could potentially change the treatment method of cancer worldwide,” Larisch tells NoCamels. “We have found that ARTS is particularly important for the death of defective stem cells. We therefore believe that ARTS-based drugs will specifically eliminate cancer stem cells (the cells that drive the growth of a tumor and are often resistant to chemotherapy or radiotherapy).

The therapy would also minimize common side-effects of conventional cancer treatment. “All currently available cancer drugs have unwanted side effects because they harm normal cells as well. In contrast, ARTS-based cancer drugs should only kill cancer cells because they act by specifically correcting the defect in their cell suicide program, caused by the loss of ARTS,” notes Dr. Larisch.

The article goes on to say that Dr. Larisch is seeking funding to develop anti-cancer drugs based on her research.

Meanwhile, another Israeli team, this one at Technion are working on a completely new method to reduce cholesterol and help reduce heart disease This team also prominently features a woman.

(h/t Jewess)

My 2010 Rosh Hashanah graphic gets ripped off

From EoZ, September 8, 2010:

From an ad in a Long Island Jewish newspaper, this week:

Hmmm.

Then again, it is possible that they didn't rip me off directly - but they got it from the Chabad of University of Western Ontario:

(To be fair, I probably got the apple and honey image from a random Google search as well this time. Other years I drew them myself. )

The UK's top foreign policy priority, and their "friendship" photo competition

From WAFA:

President Mahmoud Abbas starts Sunday a European tour with a four-day visit to Britain, a press release by the British Consulate in Jerusalem said on Friday.

Abbas is expected to meet with, among others, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, the deputy prime minister and the foreign secretary, William Hague.

Charg Ben Saoul, of the British Consulate in Jerusalem, expressed delight as Abbas’ upcoming trip to Britain.

“We are delighted to welcome President Abbas to the UK at this crucial time,’ he said.

“As the Foreign Secretary has repeatedly said, there is no more urgent UK foreign policy priority than resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 2013 is a crucial year for progress.”

The same quote is in other news articles, although I couldn't find it on the British Consulate Jerusalem website.

It is telling that while the Middle East explodes, diplomats are still partying like its 1999.

By the way, the British Consulate Jerusalem site says that it is located in the "Occupied Palestinian Territories." It appears that its consular services are meant only for Arabs.

The site has a number of interesting articles. For example, the UK FCO is sponsoring a 'Let’s celebrate friendship' photo competition.

But is it looking for photos that show friendship between Jews and Arabs? No, of course not. The competition is "to search for the best images which demonstrate the friendship between the UK and the Palestinian people."

So where are the international photo competitions showing friendship between Jews and Arabs? Well, there aren't any. Because that would be "normalization with the enemy" and since the Arabs are against normal relations with Jews who live in the Middle East, it is better not to have outside parties interfere with their bigotry.

9/08 Links: Taking Back Jewish History, Hollywood's Silence on Syria, 'Spy' Stork Found Dead

From Ian:

Taking Back Our History

The Jewish people in the Middle East are a people under siege.
Aside from the perpetual violence leveled at the Jewish minority in the region, the Jewish people are also subject to the theft of our history. This is a theft that cannot be measured in financial terms. This is a theft that goes to the core of our humanity and our dignity as a people. It seeks, in fact, to eliminate us as a people.
For reasons which I find unfathomable, we are failing to place the Arab-Jewish conflict within the history of the Jews in the Middle East under thirteen centuries of Arab-Muslim persecution. The conflict between the vast Arab-Muslim majority and the tiny Jewish minority needs to be understood in just those terms. The Jews of the Middle East were a subjugated people since Muhammed’s armies marched out of the Saudi peninsula in the 7th century. From that day to this the Jews were considered dhimmis, second and third class citizens under the boot of Arab-Muslim imperialism.

Kotel Rabbi’s Horror at Temple Mount Riots

The world should condemn the Temple Mount riots that took place on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), says Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich, Rabbi of the Kotel (Western Wall).
Several hundred Muslim youth rioted following Friday prayers. The riots ended only when police stormed the compound and arrested 15 people.
While the riot was confined to the Temple Mount itself, the rioters clearly meant to drive Jews away from the Kotel, which is adjacent, Rabbi Rabinovich accused.

EU delegation to mollify Israel over new settlement ban

In a news conference with visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry, Catherine Ashton said that the EU would not be rescinding the new directive, which last month prompted the Israeli government to declare it would sever a string of joint projects with the European body.
However, Ashton asserted, “We, of course, want to continue to have a strong relationship with Israel.” She said the EU would send a team to Israel on Monday to make sure the implementation of the ban is done “very sensitively.”

PMW: Palestinians are "noble" because "we only kill the Jews" - Refugee on PA TV

Israel spreads drugs among Palestinians - Ramallah Governor on PA TV VIDEO

Palestinian 'confesses' to Israel-backed plot to oust Hamas, return PA to Gaza

The “confession” came after Hamas said its security forces had arrested several Palestinians on suspicion of involvement with the new anti-Hamas Tamarod (“rebellion”) group.
The group has vowed to overthrow the Hamas regime the same way Egyptians got rid of president Mohamed Morsi.
The man, whose identity was not revealed, claimed that Israel, the Palestinian Authority and and some Arab countries were behind the plot. He did not name the Arab countries.

Egypt Shuts Down Rafiah Crossing After Sinai Crackdown

The Palestinian Authority’s crossings director, Maher Abu Sabha, told Ma'an that the crossing would be closed indefinitely following unrest in the Sinai peninsula.
Around 50 travelers managed to enter Egypt from Gaza on Saturday, Abu Sabha added.
At least 10 Islamist terrorists were killed as Egypt's army launched an air and ground assault on terrorists in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, security officials said.

Ex-MI Chief: Obama's Credibility at Stake

In an interview broadcast on Voice of Israel public radio Saturday evening, Yadlin said that if a strike against Syria fails to materialize, Obama will have difficulty persuading the world to take meaningful steps against Iran in the future.
Yadlin said that the aftermath of the incident in which chemical weapons were used in Syria shows us how difficult it is to receive approval for military action in the UN Security Council and the international community – even when there is proof of the use of weapons of mass destruction.
He estimated that Russian pressure may result in a diplomatic solution in which chemical weapons would be removed from Syria without military involvement. Yadlin added that the Russian ships sent to the Mediterranean in the last few days are mostly intelligence ships, and not warships.

UK tests on victims said to confirm sarin gas use in Syria

Victims of a deadly chemical attack in Syria last month were flown to Britain for tests that revealed traces of the deadly nerve gas sarin in their systems, a British newspaper said Sunday.

Chemical Weapons "Evidence" Revealed

CNN has aired footage from 13 short films shown by representatives of US President Obama to the American Senate, which apparently show the aftermath of chemical weapons attacks by the Assad regime against civilians.

Volunteers to Serve as Human Shields in Syria

The British Telegraph said that Franklin Lamb, a lawyer recently appointed as the legal adviser for the group, said he had been "inundated" with requests from activists including from Canada, France, Italy, the US, and Britain.
The Syrian regime has not yet told the group whether it intends to let it enter the country.

Ed Asner Explains Hollywood Silence on Obama, Syria: They 'Don't Want to Feel Anti-Black'

While some conservatives see hypocrisy, [Mike] Farrell says that an all-out war in Iraq under Bush, a Republican who was very unpopular in Hollywood, was a much bigger deal than potential missile strikes against Syria under the direction of Obama, a Democrat who drew millions for his campaigns from showbiz industry donors.

Syria crisis: al-Qaeda seizes village that still speaks the ancient language of Christ

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, rebel groups, a mix of the extremist Jabhat al-Nusra and the more moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA), attacked with full force.
"First they took a brick factory owned by a Christian guy, who is now missing," said the resident. "Then at around 5.30am, a car bomb detonated at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village.
"Some of the rebels entered a home near the checkpoint belonging to Yousef Haddad, a Christian. They tried to force him to convert to Islam."
A nun living in a convent in the village told the Associated press that 27 orphans living in the convent were taken to nearby caves for shelter.

In south Egypt, Islamists take over a town

A town of some 120,000 — including 20,000 Christians — Dalga has been outside government control since hard-line supporters of the Islamist Mohammed Morsi drove out police and occupied their station on July 3, the day Egypt's military chief removed the president in a popularly supported coup. It was part of a wave of attacks in the southern Minya province that targeted Christians, their homes and businesses.
Since then, the radicals have imposed their grip on Dalga, twice driving off attempts by the army to send in armored personnel carriers by showering them with gunfire.

Stork Detained as Spy in Egypt Found Dead

A stork once detained by Egyptian authorities on suspicion of being a winged spy has been found dead.
Mahmoud Hassib, the head of Egypt's southern protected areas, said Saturday that local residents found the dead bird on an island in the Nile, south of the ancient city of Aswan.

Defense expert: ‘Strike or diplomatic solution on Iran likely within 12 months’

Brig.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Nuriel, a research associate at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, and a former director of the Counter- Terrorism Bureau, spoke before the ICT’s World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, which will begin in Herzliya on Sunday.
“My assessment is that the coming year will see a milestone in the international efforts against Iran’s nuclear program. It will either take the form of offensive actions, or an agreement with Iran.
The year cannot pass without activities that will significantly change the arena,” Nuriel said.

Report: Obama ‘Vetoed’ Israeli Strike on Iran

Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser to the Israeli government and a retired Major General in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), told the Israeli press that Obama “vetoed” the strike, which was planned to take place at the height of the 2012 election cycle.
“Israel has the capability to destroy the Iranian nuclear program” and was prepared to do so, Eiland was quoted as saying in a private meeting earlier this month, according to the Israeli paper Mida.
However, top White House officials “pressured” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel the attack on Iranian nuclear sites, according to Eiland.

Netanyahu dismisses Iran’s Rosh Hashanah greetings

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening shrugged off Rosh Hashanah wishes conveyed by Iranian officials on social media earlier in the week, saying Tehran would be judged on actions, not words.
“I am not impressed by [holiday] greetings coming from a regime that only last week threatened to destroy Israel,” the prime minister said, referring to threats by Iran to retaliate against Israel for an American military strike against the Assad regime following its alleged chemical weapons use.

It’s also Holocaust denial

Iran’s Foreign Minister confirms there was a Holocaust and denies it’s significance for Jews in one short statement.
The world’s media has now realised a tweet wishing Jews a happy Rosh Hashona (new year) was not actually from an account controlled by Iran’s new president. They just couldn’t help themselves but want to believe it.
Now they’re reporting that Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who really is on Twitter and Facebook, has also wished Jews “Happy Rosh Hashanah”.

France: Candidate Barred for Burning Israel Flag

France's far-right Front National has suspended one of its local government election candidates after he posted a burning Israeli flag on his Facebook page.
The image posted by FN activist Francois Chatelain was accompanied by the words: "Here, this is France" and was condemned as anti-Semitic by Gerald Darmanin, a center-right deputy in the National Assembly.

Knesset to erect solar energy panels on roof

A plan to install photovoltaic panels for the generation of electricity on the Israeli parliament building’s roof is moving ahead and the project is expected to be up and running in 2014. According to a report in Globes, the Knesset will become one of the of the world’s first legislatures to generate its own electricity.

New bone-growing treatment accelerates healing

Meet Rosa. She’s a much-loved St. Bernard dog who was hit by a car and suffered severely broken bones. She may not have survived the trauma had she not gotten a new bone-growing treatment from Israel.
Rosa is one of the 200 pets in the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, Germany and the UK that have been treated with BoneCure, developed by the Israeli company RegeneCure.
BoneCure is a unique artificial membrane rolled into a sleeve by veterinary surgeons, encasing the space where lost bone should grow. It is the only solution of its kind on the market, the company says.

PFLP/Hamas squabble; Hamas paranoia increases

Terror groups tried to put together a show of unity against Israel, but Hamas had another agenda. From Ma'an:

The armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was "disappointed" by Hamas fighters' show of support for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood during a military march in Gaza, it said Friday.

The DFLP fighters, the National Resistance Brigades, said signs waved by Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades fighters did not reflect the DFLP's position.

The military march of Palestinian factions in the northern Gaza Strip was intended to respond to Israel's occupation and the ongoing threats against the enclave, the National Resistance Brigades said in a statement.

The march was not intended to express interference in Egypt's internal affairs, the group added.

The National Resistance Brigades said it would remain committed to a policy of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of any Arab country. There is a Palestinian consensus on that policy, and the DFLP will adhere to that consensus, the statement said.

The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, withdrew from the march because Hamas fighters raised signs in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"In a meeting between all the military wings of all resistance movements in the Gaza Strip, it was agreed to organize a march, and hold a press conference for all Palestinian military wings that aimed to highlight the unity of resistance against the occupation," the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades said in a statement.

PFLP fighters were "surprised" that Hamas fighters raised signs to support the Muslim Brotherhood, the PFLP brigades said, adding that the act did not benefit national unity.

Here is video of the rally. The terror groups look to be anything but disciplined.

Hamas members towards the end holding up four fingers are referring to Egypt's attack on a Muslim Brotherhood rally.

Meanwhile, I am seeing lots of videos of Egyptians on TV hurling insults at Hamas. The organization has really reached its lowest point since it started.

Hamas is turning even more paranoid. From the Al Qassam Brigades website:

Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza said that it discovered a plot against the Strip that targets political figures and aims to stir up unrest, and confirmed arresting some elements involved in the plot.

The spokesman for the ministry Islam Shahwan said on Friday during a press conference held in Gaza “we have recently spotted suspicious movements of some individuals planning to shake the stability on the home front,”

"As they were put under surveillance and then held by the security services, they turned out to have collaborated with Israel’s Mossad," he confirmed.

He said that those elements were interrogated and they made serious confessions about the plot that aims to create chaos is Gaza, and added that the confessions revealed that the parties involved in the plot include Israeli intelligence services, and Intelligence Service and Preventive Security Service of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, along with other Arab Intelligence Services.

Yes, Arab countries, the PLO and Israel are all secretly colluding to take down Hamas!

Arab woman forced to withdraw from Israeli feminist party because of threats

YNet Hebrew reports that an Arab woman was forced to withdraw her candidacy in a new pan-Israeli women's political party because of threats.

The party, Ometz Lev (Courage,) was founded by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur and Councilwoman Edna Friedman to push for women's rights. They intended to include all sectors of Israeli feminist society in the party including Arab and Hareidi women.

When they registered and had to reveal the names of the candidates on their slate, the east Jerusalem Arab woman's name was included. And then the threats started.

"It started with telephone calls to my home," says the woman. "[The calls] warned me that running for election is to acknowledge the sovereignty of Israel over the east (part of the city) and it will end badly. "

Ultimately, she says, her family pressured her to remove her candidacy. "We need you alive," said her relatives, and she gave up the idea.

(Meanwhile, Ometz Lev - which is still searching for a proper Haredi candidate - had to allow men who are pro-feminist to join the party in order not to run foul of Israeli anti-discrimination laws!)

(h/t sshender)

Non-sequitur of the day: "Mideast turmoil pushes PLO/Israel peace process"

Reuters writes:

Turmoil in Syria and Egypt is nudging Israelis and Palestinians toward peace, a U.S. official said on Friday as Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Europe for talks about that conflict and a possible U.S. strike on Syrian targets.

A senior U.S. State Department official said Syria’s civil war, as well as upheaval in Egypt, whose army ousted Islamist Mohamed Mursi, its first freely elected president, gives Israelis and Palestinians an incentive to end their conflict.

“Both sides have made clear to us and to each other that they do not want the turmoil to engulf them and that therefore it motivates them to try to resolve their conflict to prevent that from happening,” the official told reporters with Kerry.

Right now, the PA security forces and the IDF manage to keep the Islamists at bay in the West Bank. If there would be a Palestinian Arab state, however, the IDF couldn't help any more and the chances for an Egyptian or Tunisian-style Islamist revolution would increase. Unlike in Egypt, there is little enthusiasm for the PA security forces' pre-emptive arrests of Islamists in most of the territories.

As I have noted, right now there is more stability in Israel and the territories than there has ever been since the first intifada. There is zero evidence that a "peace agreement" would continue that. The status quo is exactly what is keeping the turmoil out!

And, of course, there is that little sector called Gaza that shows what (democratically elected) Islamist-ruled Palestinian areas would look like.

Maybe this official is trying to spin the facts, or maybe Israeli and PLO officials are telling the Americans what they want to hear. But the statement as quoted is nonsensical.

Anyone worried about the PLO-controlled areas turning into Syria should be against "peace talks."

Iran's PressTV curiously obsessed with Prince Charles' yarmulka

Last week, Prince Charles attended a ceremony welcoming Britian's new chief rabbi, and he wore a velvet kippah with his official crest.

This made Iran's PressTV go on an interesting antisemitic conspiracy theory rant.

Britain’s Prince Charles has raised eyebrows, attending the induction ceremony of UK’s new chief Rabbi while wearing a Jewish skullcap.

Aside from snatching the title of the first British royal to attend the inaugural of a chief rabbi, the heir to the British throne put on display his most explicit ever show of allegiance with the jews, wearing a yarmulke adorned with the Prince of Wales’s official emblem of feathers.

The new chief rabbi Ephraim Mervis took over the top position on Sunday.

This is not the first time the royal skullcap has made appearances as Charles has worn it at various other Jewish related events and ceremonies.

The British royal family has close ties with the Zionist regime of Israel and the Israeli-supported Jewish groups in Britain.

In one such of show of those ties before Charles’s recent stunt, the regime’s president Shimon Peres sent Charles’s son William and his wife a blue outfit for their newborn son back in July, with the message “From Israel with love” printed on the shirt.

British royals have also a tradition of having their baby boys circumcised by a Mohel, which is the Jewish word for a circumcision practitioner. Charles himself was one of those babies.

This is while, there are also huge speculations about vast covert links between British royals and the Israeli regime, which include reports of joint financial and political interests and go as far as drawing a Jewish lineage for the royals.

The speculations are rarely based on concrete evidence as the royals keep their true relations to Jews secret, but as popular historian Simon Sebag Montefiore says, “historically the British royal family has had a very friendly relationship with the Jewish community”.