Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Elder of Ziyon |
| Ushpizin wall hanging from here. |
A historic conference in support of the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria took place Tuesday inside one of the bastions of opposition to the Jewish presence in the region – the European Parliament.US pans Arab push to single out Israel for alleged nuclear arsenal
The conference was organized by the Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr. Fiorello Provera of Italy, who became a supporter of the Jewish communities after touring Samaria (Shomron), and by senior MEP Bastiaan Belder of Holland, who has also become a friend of Samaria in recent years.
The United States said on Tuesday an Arab push to single out Israel for criticism over its assumed nuclear arsenal would hurt diplomatic efforts to ban weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.Joe Biden to address J Street conference
Frustrated over the postponement of an international conference on ridding the region of atomic arms, Arab states have proposed a resolution at a UN nuclear agency meeting expressing concern about "Israeli nuclear capabilities".
The non-binding text submitted for the first time since 2010 to this week's member meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency calls on Israel to join a global anti-nuclear weapons pact and place its atomic facilities under IAEA monitoring.
Israel is widely believed to possess the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, drawing frequent Arab and Iranian condemnation. It has never acknowledged having atomic weapons.
Biden is not the only representative of the administration to come to talk up the current peace talks in front of what is considered to be a receptive audience. Martin Indyk, the US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, will also address the conference, serving as the keynote speaker for the gala dinner to be held on the same day as Biden’s address.Hamas To Produce Film on Gilad Shalit Kidnapping
J Street has repeatedly emphasized that it views this year’s conference as unprecedented in the number and diversity of its participants, among whom are a number of members of Congress as well as representatives of six Knesset parties.
According to a report from Mohammed Al-Ar'ir of the ministry of culture, the Hamas movement has allocated $100, 000 to produce the film, set to take place in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The film will be produced by Al-Wataniya, a local media company.After 6-Week Suspension From Party, UK MP David Ward Resumes Anti-Israel Tweeting
The movie will not focus on or reveal any new details about how Hamas held Shalit for more than five years in Gaza since his capture in 2006. Rather, it will focus on "violent resistance," which Hamas says is "the best option and only hope to free Palestinian lands and over 8,000 Palestinian prisoners still captive in the Israeli occupier's prisons."
Following a six-week suspension from his party for remarks deemed insensitive to Jews and the Jewish state, it took UK Liberal Democrat MP David Ward little time to resume his attacks against Israel after being restored to his position.BBC removes claim of ‘pre-emptive’ Yom Kippur strike
In a post to his Twitter account on Tuesday, MP Ward wrote that he was “looking forward” to a Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel’s conference event “on hideous weapons used by Israel in Gaza.”
The Tweet was taken down seconds later and replaced with the more impartial: “Looking forward to #LDFI event tonight on use of sensitive language.”
On September 15th we highlighted the fact that the BBC’s ‘Learning Zone’ website – a resource for teachers – claimed that Egypt and Syria “acted pre-emptively” when they launched the surprise attacks which began the Yom Kippur war forty years ago.Mubarak: ‘I started the Yom Kippur War’
Via the JTA we learn that the erroneous claim has been removed from the website after the JTA approached the BBC’s Head of Communications.
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak says he personally started the Yom Kippur War in October, 1973, by attacking an Israeli communications base in his fighter jet six minutes before the rest of the Arab armies’ surprise attack on the Jewish state began.Have your say: the BBC Trust wants to know what you think
In most accounts, the war began at 2:00 pm on October 6, when at least 200 Egyptian fighter planes simultaneously hit three Israeli airbases, Israel’s missile batteries, command centers, numerous artillery positions, and radar installations, to devastating effect.
The consultation will run from September 16th to December 13th 2013 and there are various ways to take part. It covers television and radio programmes available in the UK as well as BBC Online and social media – in other words, the consultation does not include the BBC World Service.BBC WS ‘Fifth Floor’ version of the 1993 Rabin-Arafat handshake
An opportunity definitely not to be wasted.
Saudis use Hitler in action TV promoIssam Ikirmawi: “Yes. There was a big rumour at the time that Arafat was told by American officials that under no circumstances should he attempt to kiss Rabin or kiss anyone.”Of course Ikirmawi’s suggestion that American officials sought to protect Rabin’s ‘Western’ sensibilities from Arafat’s ‘Middle Eastern’ customs conceals the fact that Jerusalem-born Rabin was no less Middle Eastern than Cairo-born Arafat. But it also plays into pernicious stereotypes of ‘authentic’ Palestinians and ‘foreign’ Israelis.
DA: “What was the protocol – the reasoning behind that protocol though – that American officials would say that?”
II: “But I mean in the West it’s not customary for men to kiss when they meet each other, while in the Middle East they do, and Arafat was renowned for his fondness of kissing people when he meets them.”
A Saudi-owned TV network is taking flak for featuring Adolf Hitler in its ads to promote what it says is its action movie channel’s unbeatable September film lineup.It’s Time to Stop Whitewashing Tarek Loubani and John Greyson
The Middle East Broadcasting Center, a Dubai-based and Saudi-owned television network, has aired ads which show snippets from the Quentin Tarantino movie Inglorious Basterds in order to push its latest and greatest films on offer. Arabic subtitles have Hitler’s character from the film laud MBC Action’s “September to Remember,” saying “they will control the entire region.”
“They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Cecilia Greyson, John’s sister, is quoted as saying. She has also claimed that their detention “is completely arbitrary.” A Global news article noted that both “have a history of supporting human rights in Gaza.”Facebook Under Fire for Allowing Hate Speech Against Jews to Proliferate Online
What is not mentioned in these sanitized accounts is that Loubani has been a long-time member of the International Solidarity Movement, a radical pro-Palestinian activist group with ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The ISM, founded in 2001, calls itself a peace group but has avowed the necessity of violence and stated its belief that Israel is “an illegal entity that should not exist.” Loubani was arrested a decade ago for entering a military area in the West Bank and interfering with the work of Israeli soldiers, a key tactic of the ISM and precisely what got American Rachel Corrie (also an ISM member) accidentally killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003.
Facebook, Inc. came under fire on Tuesday for allowing hate speech against Jews to proliferate in its online community.UK Prime Minister: Let Tottenham Hotspur Fans Call Themselves ‘Yids’
A group called “Remove Hate From FB” said the online site has gone far in blocking pages denigrating other minority groups, but attacks against Jews are allowed to linger online.
“Why is Facebook routinely and automatically removing hate group pages which target African Americans and the Gay Community, but when it comes to hate group pages that target Jews, they seem to turn an anti-Semitic blind eye?” asks organizer Michael Mendelson.
Remove Hate From FB has called for an”offline” protest at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on October 14.
British Prime Minister David Cameron waded into a row involving fans of London football club Tottenham Hotspur and Britain’s ruling football body, the Football Association, with his own contention that fans should not be prosecuted for using the word ‘Yid’ in a non-threatening context.Palestinian Telecom Entrepreneur Pays $10.5 Million for Israel’s Alvarion
“You have to think of the mens rea. There’s a difference between Spurs fans self-describing themselves as ‘Yids’ and someone calling someone a ‘Yid’ as an insult,” Cameron told the UK’s Jewish Chronicle.
“You have to be motivated by hate,” the prime minister said. “Hate speech should be prosecuted — but only when it’s motivated by hate.”
According to Israeli business website Calcalist, Alami is a Palestinian telecommunications entrepreneur who currently lives in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. Alami has established a number of telecommunications companies — the most prominent being Coolnet, an Internet service provider (ISP) that operates high-speed Internet services.Britain’s MyCurrencyTransfer.com opens in Tel Aviv
“I don’t care whether Alvarion is an Israeli or a Palestinian company. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just business. I know the company. And I worked with it for long years. I am interested in running the company, and eager to bring it to success. As a native of Jerusalem, I can tell you that if each of us does his own share, as best he can, we may yet achieve peace,” he told Calcalist.
“The most important thing I’ve learned about Israeli talent is its fearlessness,” says Daniel Abrahams, co-founder of MyCurrencyTransfer.com. “It is no surprise to me that Israel has more companies listed on the NASDAQ than all of Europe combined, and that it is startup capital of the world.”Teva forms R&D alliance with UK’s Cancer Research Technology
This is why Abrahams, 26, has opened a branch of his London-based office in Tel Aviv.
It was a natural fit for the English entrepreneur, whose mother is Israeli.
“We came here as part of a talent-acquisition strategy,” he admits. “But then we fell in love with the atmosphere and spirit of the place – perfect for innovation and momentum.”
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and the UK’s Cancer Research Technology (CRT) have signed a multi-project alliance agreement to research and develop first-in-class cancer drugs that modulate DNA damage and repair response (DDR) processes in cancer cells.Birds without borders: Diplomacy takes wing in the Middle East
DDR plays a key role in protecting cancer cells from the damaging effect of chemotherapy – creating an in-built antidote to the toxic effects of the anti-tumor drug. As the cancer cells that are best able to repair the DNA damage caused by the cancer treatments survive, they replicate, naturally selecting for the mutation with the enhanced repair capability – leading to recurrence and resistance to treatment.
For Yossi Leshem, the story is all too familiar: A white stork, tagged last month in Hungary for a migration study, was captured and turned over to police in Egypt after a journey of 3,700 kilometres.Iran may send cat blasting into space
The GPS transmitter on its back has aroused suspicions that it was being used for espionage. The bird was finally released Sept. 2, after officials were assured it was not a foreign spy. Days later it was killed by a hunter.
In a region where political tensions and guns abound, the stork’s bizarre and abbreviated journey illustrates a massive problem faced by conservationists: how to protect the roughly half a billion birds that pass through the Middle East – many of them this month – while they fly from breeding grounds in Europe and Asia to winter havens in Africa.
Iran’s hunt for its next animal astronaut may turn to the distinctive and locally named Persian cat, an official said Monday, in another possible step by the country’s ambitious aerospace program that has also raised Western concerns about spillover military applications. The report by the official IRNA news agency comes seven months after Iran claimed it launched a monkey out of earth’s atmosphere and successfully returned it home. The account, however, faced international questions after photos appeared to show different monkeys in pre- and post-launch images.3 Yom Kippur War Heroes Whose Stories You’ve Never Heard
Every war has its heroes. When Syria and Egypt surprise attacked Israel on Yom Kippur 40 years ago today according to the Jewish calendar, it took a whole nation of heroes to push back the invading armies and snatch a miraculous victory. Here, we honor a few whose stories you have probably never heard.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013Elder of Ziyon
Egypt, Hypocrisy, media bias
The European Jewish Congress paid to run a full-page ad in the London-based The Financial Times, protesting against the European Union's recent decision to suspend funding for any Israel institutions working beyond the Green Line - ie in the West Bank.OK, how many lies has el-Khazen given us so far?
The ad, which was titled "Last chance for Europe to place peace above politics," claimed that the position of the European Union is "ultimately detrimental to Europeans, Israelis, and Palestinians, and above all, serve [s] to minimize the chances for lasting peace. "
But this is all a lie that only a pro-Israeli organization is capable of.
Personally, I do not recognize any green or red lines, and all I know is that Palestine is the land from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. This land is entirely under occupation by the state of Israel. Also personally, I accepted with the Palestinians a state on 22 percent of their land, but the successive Israeli governments, including those that had war criminals and terrorists in their ranks, did not accept this.
While I oppose all war, and do not want any Palestinian or Jew to be harmed, I insist that peace is not possible with the current Israeli government, a fascist government leading the last apartheid state in the world, and a government that kills, destroys , and steals Palestinian homes every day. I challenge the European Jewish Congress to prove me wrong in the future.
The second paragraph of the ad claimed that the EU does not implement the same funding policy on other countries, of which the ad named Turkey, Morocco, and China.He never heard of the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus or the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, but he is certain that they don't occupy anyone. And if they do, well, it is no big deal.
I don't know what the accusation against these countries is, but I know that the Turks or the Chinese do not live in a country to which they had immigrated, and which they then occupied by force of arms, dispossessing or murdering its native people . Furthermore, one mistake does not justify another, and if Turkey or China (Morocco took in the Jews of Spain and protected them after the fall of Andalusia, and alluding to it is ingratitude) has indeed made mistakes, then this does not justify the sins that Israel commits every day against the Palestinians.
The Palestinians alone can claim the land as their own, and yet, they and I with them have accepted a state on less than a quarter of their land. Historically, Israel never existed in Palestine, not 3,000 years ago, and not 2,000 years ago, or at any other time. There are no Jewish antiquities in Palestine, and the prophets of the Torah never existed, and were 'invented' hundreds of years after the alleged era during which they lived. Moreover, Al-Haram Al-Sharif is not the so-called Temple Mount, which never existed, and there are no traces in the mosque complex of any First or Second Temple. To be sure, the Temple is just another myth of the Torah.Ignorance is one thing, but taking such pride in one's ignorance is breathtaking. Does he think that the Kotel was built by a Muslim sultan? (One must also wonder if he believes that the prophets mentioned in the Koran existed - since most of them are also in the Torah.)
The ad then moves from outright lies to sheer obscenity, claiming that the EU is abrogating the Oslo Accords which stipulate "that the current status of the territories and its residents will not be changed ahead of final status negotiations, to which the parties have now recently returned, "and that" the territories, captured during a defensive war, from Jordan, itself an occupier, were never an independent sovereign entity. "El-Khazen, of course, is the only liar here. The EJC correctly stated that during the Oslo process the status of the territories should not be unilaterally changed. Jordan was of course an occupier of the West Bank, and the idea that Arabs cannot occupy other Arab territory is a rule that Khazen just made up.
Every word and every sentence in the above is a lie. The Oslo Accords did not stipulate that territories and residents should remain unchanged for a thousand years, as the terrorist governments in Israel want. Furthermore, the Palestinians are the native inhabitants of the land, and each of them has a known name and comes from a known city, town, or village. Jordan and Palestine, meanwhile, are one and the same, and Jordan cannot be an occupier because the Jordanians are Arabs in their own land, and not European Ashkenazi Jews.
An Israeli source told The Times of Israel that 350 trucks carrying building materials will now be allowed to enter the Hamas-controlled territory every week, an increase of 250 truck loads, in a bid “to increase employment and strengthen the private sector in the Gaza Strip.”Palestinian Govt Endangered By Economic and Political Double-Bind
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the change in Israeli policy followed talks with the Palestinians “in cooperation with the international community,” and had “no connection” to the peace negotiations underway between the sides.
The IMF specifically called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to cut the wages, pensions, and benefits of public employees.Jerusalem police arrest Islamic Movement leaders for allegedly disturbing the peace
The recommendation risks trapping the PA in a double-bind, forced to choose between floating the West Bank economy or sustaining the Palestinian government’s political institutions.
Building and sustaining the economy will require, per the IMF report, cuts in employee compensation. But PA government employees are already going on strike – 95% of them walked out this weekend – over insufficient compensation. Further cuts could endanger the viability of the Palestinian government.
Jerusalem policemen were attacked this morning near the Temple Mount in the old city, by Palestinian stone throwers.Arab Youths Carrying Molotov Cocktails Arrested at Tapuach Jct
Three men were arrested as a result, including the two Islamic Movement leaders, while two policemen were injured after being hit by rocks.
Israeli Border Police have arrested two Arab men at the Tapuach junction after being alerted by suspicious-looking bags the pair were carrying.Terror attack thwarted in West Bank
The two men, aged 18 and 20, both residents of the Raas el Ayn refugee camp near Shechem, arrived at the checkpoint at the junction on Tuesday afternoon carrying plastic bags.
After border police stationed at the junction approached the two to check the contents of the bags they discovered four Molotov cocktails ready for use.
A terror attack was prevented Wednesday when Israeli security forces in the West Bank caught a Palestinian youth carrying a pistol and knife.UN Security Council faces reform calls following inaction on Syria
The suspect was arrested by police and Givati soldiers at the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. He tried reaching for an improvised knife hidden in his belt when security forces grabbed him.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Ban said he also endorsed reforming the Security Council, and that "almost all member states are in agreement that the Security Council should be reformed, but how to reform, how to change, the member states have not been able to agree."Lebanese MP Echoes Claims Hezbollah Received Chemical Arms
"Sadly, the international community has not been able to help the Syrian people enjoy security and peace for the last two-and-a-half years," Ban said.
"The Security Council should be united at this time. The findings [in the UN chemical weapons report] by Dr. Selltröm and his team were indisputable and overwhelming."
Ban did walk back remarks that he made over the weekend in which he accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of crimes against humanity, maintaining that he was not assigning blame for the chemical weapons attacks.
A claim made Monday by Syrian National Coalition member Kamal al-Labwani, that Syria has transferred chemical weapons to Hezbollah, was echoed Tuesday by another politician.UN Envoy: Golan Fighting Could Draw Israel into Syrian War
MP Khaled el Daher, a member of Lebanon's Al Mustakbal party, asked the United Nations to send international inspectors to Lebanon, to inspect Hezbollah's weapons stores. He claims that he has “well founded” information, according to which Hezbollah recently received chemical weapons from Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.
The Associated Press quoted the envoy, Robert Serry, as having told the Security Council the fighting could "jeopardize the ceasefire" between Israel and Syria that has been in place since 1974, monitored by UN peacekeepers.Syrian defector: I was told to use chemical weapons
Serry said that during "heavy clashes" last Thursday between Syrian troops and the opposition, five artillery shells and one tank shell landed on the Israeli side of the truce line.
He noted that the Israelis did not retaliate.
In an interview with Abu Dhabi newspaper The National, Brigadier General Zaher Saket, a commander in the military’s 5th division who defected from President Bashar Assad’s army in March, claimed he had been instructed to attack rebels with poison gas on numerous occasions.Syria Hands Russia 'Proof' of Rebel Chemical Weapons Use
“I am a witness and received orders three times to use chemical gas last year,” Saket said.
A Russian official has claimed to have received evidence of the use of chemical weapons by Syrian rebels, and dismissed a UN report suggesting the Syrian regime used poison gas as unreliable.China: 'UN Report on Syria Not Impartial'
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also slammed a UN report on an August 21 chemical weapons attack in the Syrian capital Damascus, which killed over 1,000 people, as "politicized and one-sided." The report - which concluded that Sarin gas had been used in the attack on a rebel-held Damascus suburb - did not explicitly apportion blame for the attack, but western leaders claimed it was proof that the Assad regime was indeed behind the deadly attack.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing that Beijing would have a “serious look” at the report, but did not say whether China thought that government forces were responsible when asked.MEMRI: In Egypt, Public Campaign Against Obama, U.S.; Calls For Intensified Cooperation With Russia, China
“The relevant investigation should be carried out by the U.N. investigation team on an impartial, professional and independent basis,” he said.
The Egyptian pro-regime and -army press published articles notable in their vilification of President Obama himself – insulting his mother, calling him mentally deficient and his administration "the Adolf Obama Reich," and even going so far as to offer a prayer that he would die in agony. Many articles contended that Obama and his administration supported terror by virtue of their support for the MB; columnists also opposed U.S. intervention in Egypt's internal affairs, and, in response to American threats to cut off aid, argued that Egypt was better off without it.Egypt Freezes Brotherhood's Assets, Arrests its Spokesman
Among those facing sanctions are Brotherhood general guide Mohammad Badie, his two deputies Khairat al-Shater and Rashad Bayoumi, as well as Salafist leader Hazem Abu Ismail and preacher Safwat Higazy, reported AFP.Analysis: Following US-Russian agreement, Iran will aim for a deal of its own
Since August, Egypt's authorities have rounded up dozens of senior leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, including Badie, who was caught in a building in Cairo’s Nasr City district near Rabaa El-Adaweya.
Last week, authorities began investigating former President Mohammed Morsi’s family wealth and assets, reported Al Arabiya.
Meanwhile, Iran’s new nuclear energy chief has pledged increased cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency ahead of upcoming talks later this month.Iran Denies Willingness to Make Nuclear Concession, Nixes Possibility of “Fresh Proposal”
Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that he believes in “heroic flexibility,” according to a report by the Iranian Fars News Agency on Tuesday.
“I agree with the issue that I called ‘heroic flexibility’ some years ago, since this move is highly good and necessary on certain occasions, but with commitment to one main condition,” he said. Khamenei added, “A technical wrestler also shows flexibility for technical reasons sometimes, but he would never forget who his rival is and what his main goal is.”
So it seems “tactical flexibility” means to serve the strategic goal of achieving nuclear weapons
Even if Iran did close Fordo, the country’s stockpile of low- and medium-enriched uranium and the 18,000 centrifuges installed at another enrichment plant near Natanz would allow it to make highly enriched fuel for nuclear weapons, said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington.Startling Revelations From an Iranian Smuggling Case in Hamburg
Yuval Steinitz – Israel’s Minister of Intelligence, International Relations, and Strategic Affairs – explained to Israeli Army Radio that “most of the centrifuges are not there; without Fordo they might be able to produce six, not seven, nuclear bombs.”
Iranian media is flatly denying the details of a Der Spiegel report published yesterday describing Iranian president Hassan Rouhani as ready to decommission the country’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordo in exchange for the West easing economic sanctions.
I rarely attend trials, but this one is special. On July 24, 2013, the main hearing in the case of German businessman Rudolf M. and Iranian-Germans Gholamali K., Kianzad K., and Hamid Kh. opened at Hamburg’s Higher Regional Court. The defendants are charged with exporting 92 German-produced specialized valves for use in Iran’s Arak plutonium reactor and arranging the shipment of 856 nuclear-usable valves from India to Iran in 2010 and 2011.Human Rights Group Urges Facebook to Boycott Iranian Regime
The reasons why the UN Security Council has ordered Iran to halt the construction of the Arak reactor are compelling. If this nuclear plant comes online in 2014, as the Iranians anticipate, it could produce enough weapons-grade plutonium for two bombs a year. The smuggling of nuclear valves from Germany is therefore of exceptional significance and tops the latest UN list of reported alleged violations of the sanction regime against Iran.
Recently, an important detail of this smuggling operation was revealed on the German public television current affairs program, Fakt: “German officials clearly (knew) about this illegal trade since 2009 and did nothing about it for years.” How so? Did such an explosive shipment really take place before the very eyes of the German security services?
The Israeli organization, which represents victims of terrorism in courtrooms around the world, sent a formal letter to Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, in an attempt to dissuade the multibillion dollar company from violating a U.S. law.Technical Glitch Momentarily Restores Social Media Access in Iran
It was recently reported that 15 Iranian government ministers launched a new account on the popular social network even though Facebook is supposedly closed to the citizens of Iran. Ministers have made the new accounts by using proxy servers. The fact that Facebook is an American company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, makes it subject to U.S. laws.
A technical glitch briefly restored access to social media sites Twitter and Facebook Monday in Iran.Thailand Jails Hezbollah Bomb Suspect
The social media sites have been blocked since 2009 after they were used to organize protests against the reigning regime.
Iranians reacted with cautious optimism when they realized the sites were accessible.
“If it is true, I think they have to register today in calendar as a day of Free Filtering,” user Abbas Farokhi told BBC Persian.
A 49 year-old Swedish national has been jailed over an alleged Hezbollah bomb plot in Thailand.Part Iran-Owned NYC 5th Avenue Office Tower Worth Up to $700 Million Cleared for Seizure by U.S. Government
Atris Hussein was arrested in January after Israeli intelligence services tipped off their Thai counterparts over a planned terrorist attack during the New Year.
He was sentenced to four years for "illegal armament possession," but will only have to serve two years and eight months after the prosecution failed to convince judges of his connection to the Hezbollah terrorist group.
Instead, the conviction relates to Hussein's possession of 2,800 kilos (2.8 tons) of ammonium nitrate, which is used in the manufacturing of explosives, and the possession of which is banned in Thailand without a permit - which Hussein did not have.
A 36-story Manhattan office tower, partially-owned by a shell company controlled by Iran, has been cleared for forfeiture to the U.S. government by a federal judge, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The building is expected to fetch between $500 million and $700 million, the New York Daily News said.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest made the forfeiture finding in a case first brought by the U.S. government in 2008, ruling that the building is subject to forfeiture because revenue from it was secretly funneled to a state-owned Iranian bank, in violation of a U.S. trade embargo.
The siege of Gaza by Hamas continues!Hamas police Wednesday prevented Gaza students seeking to travel to Egypt through Rafah crossing to reach their colleges abroad from leaving the Strip, according to the students.
They said that around 200 students gathered at Rafah crossing after Egypt has decided to open it for a couple of days to allow students and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza.
However, Hamas members attacked the students with clubs and pushed them back with their jeeps to prevent them from leaving Gaza.
Students said that Hamas did this because they coordinated their travel with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, as requested by the Egyptian authority to facilitate their travel.
The Palestinian embassy in Cairo had asked students who want to leave Gaza to attend colleges abroad to coordinate their travel through it due to the closure of the Rafah crossing since last week following an attack on Egyptian security personnel in Sinai.
Egypt agreed to open the crossing briefly on Wednesday and Thursday for special cases after President Mahmoud Abbas Monday called the head of the Egyptian intelligence, Mohammed Tohami, and requested that Egypt allows students, the sick and humanitarian cases to leave Gaza.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013Elder of Ziyonleftists, Temple Mount
Wednesday, September 18, 2013Elder of ZiyonJordan on Tuesday sent a letter to the Israeli government voicing its condemnation of the recent seizure of shop rooftops in Jerusalem by a company developing the Old City.Now, I have no idea what sort of development can be done on top of Arab roofs, although I do know that the Jewish Quarter in the Old City extends directly above the Arab souk.
In the letter, delivered through Israeli ambassador in Jordan, the Kingdom requested the Israeli government to “take all the necessary measures to prevent the tampering of Islamic waqfs [religious endowment] in Jerusalem”, according to Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani.
He added that Jordan also demanded the Israeli side to prevent the company in question and other similar entities, including the Israeli municipality, from making any changes to Jerusalem’s Old City that would alter its Arab and Islamic identity, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Momani noted that the letter deemed any Israeli attempt to tamper with any Islamic sites in Jerusalem as “an infringement against Article 9 of the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty”, Petra said.
The Jordanian government received a tip that the Jerusalem Development Company had notified Jerusalem traders on the need to “renovate their shops’ roofs” in preparation for a huge project the company is planning to establish on these roofs, according to Petra.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with sending a memo to the Israeli government, expressing the Kingdom’s position and reminding the Israeli side of its international obligations.
Article 9 - Places of Historical and Religious Significance and Interfaith RelationsThere is nothing there about rooftops or about non-religious buildings in Jerusalem.
1. Each Party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.
2. In this regard, in accordance with the Washington Declaration, Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines.
3. The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013Elder of Ziyonhumor, Occupation
The Palestinian people, according to a recent study by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, have received per capita, adjusted for inflation, 25 times more aid than did Europeans to rebuild war-torn Western Europe under the Marshall plan after the Second World War.Palestinians: Deserving of a State?
Most of these funds, according to the study, reached the Palestinian people through The United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
UNRWA is the only UN refugee agency dedicated to a single group of people, and the only agency that designates individuals as original refugees if they have lived in areas effected by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, for a minimum of only two years, before being displaced. UNRWA is also the only UN agency that designates the descendants of the original refugees as refugees as well – even though 90% of UNRWA-designated refugees have never actually been displaced.
There are currently twenty-one Arabic countries, all in various states of dysfunction. Iraq, wracked by internecine warfare, is swiftly unraveling with 1,000 of its citizens murdered in sectarian conflict just in the past month. Syria, whose leader recently used Sarin to gas his own people, has long since ceased to be a country, having fractured along ethno-religious lines. And Egypt, always regarded as the premiere Arab state, is just barely functioning and teetering on the brink full-fledged civil war. The rest of the Arab world is in no better shape and there appears to be no end in sight to Arab internal conflict and its brutal consequences.JPost Editorial: Learning from Oslo
If past performance is any indicator, the Palestinian state, should it ever come to fruition will almost certainly end up like the rest of the Arab lot and devolve into a stateless, lawless region marked by extremism, violence and terror. Such an entity will pose a direct challenge to regional stability. Indeed, the clan-based ethno and religious schisms that currently exist within Palestinian society are not new and date back to the 1930s and 40s when the Husseini and Nashashibi clans violently battled each other for Palestinian leadership roles. (h/t NormanF)
Kerry seems to be devoting too much of his effort to talks and not enough to changing realities on the ground. And this is unfortunate, since the simple truth is that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other PA leaders lack the will and/or the ability to negotiate a final-status peace agreement with Israel.Legal Experts Call on Kerry to Hold Palestinians Accountable
Instead, much more American energy must be invested in the more modest goal of building a viable Palestinian state that is capable of living in peace alongside Israel.
That means insisting that PA-sponsored media and schools put an end to incitement against Israel.
It also means improving Palestinians’ day-to-day living conditions. The building of Rawabi, the first new Palestinian city, should be seen as a positive development.
Hundreds of legal experts from the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to demand that the Palestinian Authority (PA) exercise proper conduct in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, Israel Hayom reported.Israel-PA Negotiations Continue Amid Jordan Valley Controversy
In a letter sent to Kerry on Saturday, the legal experts called on the secretary of state to enforce the rules and behavior stipulated and agreed upon in the preliminary negotiations, and to have the Palestinians stop detrimental behavior, including economic sanctions, boycotts, and acts of incitement.
Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority continued in Jerusalem on Monday, amid a familiar pattern of Israeli and American silence and PA leaks.IDF pulls soldiers out of communities bordering Gaza, Lebanon and Syria
Israeli sources refused to confirm the meetings, in line with an agreement by the involved parties - Israel, the US and the PA - to refrain from public comments on the talks until real progress had been made. However, a Palestinian Authority officials leaked news of the latest meeting between the sides to AFP.
But while Israeli officials have remain tight-lipped about the talks, PA officials have made several leaks to the press.
In the past, the IDF's Southern Command placed soldiers at the entrance to nine towns and villages near the Gaza and Egypt borders, while the Northern Command secured 13 frontier communities in this way.Israeli academic sues British labor union for racism and discrimination
Evaluations carried out at IDF headquarters concluded that enhanced border security measures, such as electronic sensors, patrols, and lookout posts, combined with additional components, meant that the practice of placing soldiers inside the communities is no longer necessary.
"We know where the threats come from, what routes threats could take, and we understand these measures are no longer needed," the source said. "The need to defend from inside communities seems less relevant," he stated.
The Israeli expert, who lives in Tel Aviv, had been due to lead a session for managers and union officials at the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust last May when he received an email stating that Unison had to his presence and its members would boycott the event, apparently because the invitation to an Israeli academic was in conflict with Unison policy. Although the health union has a long-standing boycott of goods produced in Israel settlements in the West Bank, lawyers for the academic told 'The Independent' that they could find no lawful justification for an apparent ban on Israeli citizens. (h/t Daphne Anson)Israel dismisses letter in favor of EU settlement guidelines
Israel dismissed on Monday a letter by former European leaders calling on the EU to stick by its settlement guidelines.The Media is Still Obsessed With Israel
As far as Jerusalem is concerned, the words of biased former officials are no longer significant.
“The people who signed the letter are no longer relevant and do not have control or say in the EU decision-making process,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. “This reflects their own biased positions and does not surprise us.
Secretary of State John Kerry has made it clear that these guidelines are not productive for the peace process or the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian discussions which have been held recently.”
What Middle East story does the New York Times, the newspaper of record in the United States, deem so important that it devotes most of the front page of its 12-page SundayReview section this week, including eye-catching art work, and the bulk of two inside pages?The Economist’s extraordinarily misleading 12 words on why Hamas hates Israel
Is it about Syria?
After all, the U.S. Administration’s surprise decision to turn to diplomacy and partner with Moscow to forge a deal on the Syrian chemical-weapons arsenal is one of the biggest geopolitical developments in recent history.
Jewish teenagers attacked at Paris sports courtYet Israelis still loathe Hamas, which carried out scores of suicide-bombings against Israelis in the early 2000s. Hamas, meanwhile, reviles Israel for its assaults on Gaza and its leaders.That’s why Hamas hates Israel?!
Well, for starters, Hamas’s obsessive hatred, which manifests itself in explicit calls by their leaders to commit genocide against the Jews, likely has something to do with their founding charter, published in 1988. The document cites the wisdom of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion‘ to “prove” that Jews are trying to take over the world, and asserts its theological commitment to destroying the Jewish state – regardless of where its borders are drawn – through a long-term strategy of violent jihad.
According to France’s Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, several teenagers “of African and North African origins” attacked the group of Jewish 13-year-olds from the Ner HaThorah Jewish school on Thursday. There were no serious injuries.Netanyahu Launches New 'Begin Virtual Exhibit'
The attackers asked the Jews to stop “occupying the area,” the report said, called them “dirty Jews” and said “Hitler didn’t finish the job.”
On Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a virtual exhibit to mark the centenary of the birth of Israel's sixth prime minister, Menachem Begin. Begin is now the first Israeli personality to be remembered in a joint initiative between the Google Cultural Institute and museums and cultural institutions around the world.Curiyo promises more information, less annoyingly
Dynamic contextual advertising and linking on websites is a big business today, but many of these services leave much to be desired, according to information guru Bob Rosenschein. “I don’t want to knock anyone, but many of these link services are very annoying,” he told The Times of Israel. “I wanted to develop something that would be much easier on the eye, and much easier for users to digest — a service with as good a user interface and experience as possible.”Israeli Agricultural Technology to Gain Greater Access to India Farmers Through Centers of Excellence; 8 to Open in 2013, 29 by 2015
It’s for that reason he established Curiyo, a new browser add-on “that allows users to get more information about just about anything on the web, using dynamic contextual technology they can live with,” he said.
Ushpiz said Israel, which is known for its expertise in the dairy industry, is keen to collaborate with the Indian dairy sector to boost milk production.Israeli Tech Company Matomy Reportedly Plans 2014 London IPO at $400-$500 Million Valuation
“We are interested in dairy sector. We have expertise in raising milk productivity in extreme temperatures and limited water resources,” the ambassador was quoted as saying.
Although India is the world’s largest milk producer, the per capita milk output is the lowest in the world. An Israeli cow yields an average 12,000 liters of milk per year, four times greater than the 3,000 liters reported in India.
Digital advertising technology company Matomy Media Group Inc. plans a 2014 initial public offering in London at a valuation of between $400 and $500 million, Israel’s Globes business daily reported, citing unnamed sources.Etrog-runners held at Ben Gurion
Matomy was founded in 2006 by CEO Ofer Druker, Adi Orzel and Kfir Moyal. In 2010, Ilan Shiloach, chairman of the Israeli arm of international advertising giant McCann Erickson and his partner Nir Tarlovsky made a strategic investment in Matomy as part of their move into Internet advertising. In 2009, Shiloach and Tarlovsky founded TheTime technology incubator to nurture new media start-ups, and Matomy is based in the same building, in Tel Aviv’s Ramat Hahayil.
As many Israelis spend the days before the Sukkot festival browsing outdoor markets for the Four Species, Israeli customs authorities find themselves battling smugglers trying to sneak citrons into the country.Simon Schama - The Story Of The Jews Part 3
Over the past two weeks alone, four passengers have been caught in three separate incidents, trying to smuggle about 400 citrons, or etrogs, into the country without paying customs tariffs, the ultra-Orthodox website KikarHashabbat reported.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013Elder of ZiyonHypocrisy, media bias
Tuesday, September 17, 2013Elder of ZiyonanalysisMahmoud Habash, Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs, revealed the existence of a deal between President Mohamed Morsi and Hamas to give up her part of the Sinai in order to expand the [Gaza Strip] sector and the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza.The accusation is, of course, fiction. It is merely part of the war of words between Fatah and Hamas. But the fact that a PLO official is making such an accusation is important.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013Elder of ZiyonAbbas liar, zionist attack zoo
It's been over a year since I last reported on the perennial stories, often in Ma'an, of "Jewish settlers" releasing wild boars to wreak havoc on Palestinian Arab farmers.Palestinian farmers in Salfit on Tuesday accused settlers of releasing wild boars onto their land to damage their crops.This time, instead of reporting it as actual fact as it used to, Ma'an quotes a seeming authoritative source:
Wild boars damaged a number of plum trees, fig trees, vineyards and other agricultural crops, farmers in the Wadi Shaer area of Salfit told Ma'an.
Farmers accuse settlers of deliberately releasing the boars onto their land.
Residents and local officials in the area have for several years complained that settlers release boars, which have caused injuries and destroy land in the rural communities.
The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem says that while Israel claims it cannot control the wild boar population in the area, and the purposeful release of pigs cannot be confirmed, Israel's separation wall has pushed the animals to search for new habitats.However, as I have documented, the ARIJ has directly blamed the boars on Jews in the past - by quoting Ma'an!
With Obama's policies in Egypt and Syria exploding in his face, his Cairo Speech dreams of a new Middle East devolving into an Islamist chaos, and Iranian “engagement” taking the form of threats against his family, Obama may also be more aware, somewhere deep inside his political persona, of the seriousness of the threats Israel faces. Possibly, his original antipathy for Israel and Netanyahu may have been tempered by the reality of living in the White House for almost five years.Khaled Abu Toameh: King Abdullah Says No To Hamas
The upcoming UNGA is a moment of great historic drama. Binyamin Netanyahu can be expected to be in top form. All of his warnings over the years have materialized. The danger of WMDs in the hands of rogue states have been demonstrated for the world to see, in Youtube videos of dead children lying in rows. Last year – the feeling was that while Netanyahu drew his red line, Obama had probably flipped the channel on his TV set. This year, however, Obama has also drawn a red line, and has had to try to defend it.
Perhaps, at last, Netanyahu's red line has met Obama's foreign policy learning curve, in which case there is room for very cautious optimism. This time, perhaps, the meeting between the two leaders will not involve snubs and public rebukes, but take place in an atmosphere that is conducive to understandings that can truly deter Iran and Russia from continuing their game of nuclear chicken with the US and Israel.
Jordan's King Abdullah has turned down a request from Hamas to re-open its offices in his country, according to informed sources in Amman.One dead, dozens wounded in overnight clashes in Jenin
The sources said that Qatar, one of the few Arab countries that continue to support Hamas, recently asked King Abdullah to allow Hamas to resume its activities in the kingdom.
The Jordanians banned Hamas in 1999 and stripped some of the Islamist movement's leaders, including Khaled Mashal, of their Jordanian citizenship.
A wanted terrorist was killed and dozens were injured in clashes that erupted in the West Bank town of Jenin overnight Tuesday after an attempt to arrest the man was met with violent resistance, the IDF said Tuesday.Russia training Palestinian women to be paratroopers
The soldiers encountered “a violent riot” as “Palestinians hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and improvised grenades at security forces who responded with riot dispersal means… Feeling an imminent threat to their lives, the soldiers returned fire toward the lower extremities of main instigators,” the IDF said.
The Palestinian Authority revealed on Monday that Russia has been training Palestinian women as paratroopers.Ninety-Five Percent of Palestinian Government Workers Stage Strike
The PA security forces published a number of photos showing the women by trained by Russian experts.
This is the first time that Palestinian women are trained as paratroopers.
The PA does not have any planes or helicopters.
Palestinian media is reporting that a massive government strike which occurred yesterday may escalate and expand in the coming weeks. Yesterday 95% of Palestinian government workers launched a one-day strike, after their union chief called on them to do so.Isi Leibler: Putin’s Russia now a force in the Middle East
The union is promising that next week it’ll be a two-day strike.
With the passage of days, weeks and months, interest in controlling his stockpiles will wane and the possibility of taking action will be effectively forestalled.Elliott Abrams: The Syria deal
There will be no consequences to Assad’s actions, since Russia endorsed and the US capitulated to his demand that an agreement eschew any mention of reverting to military action should he renege on the deal.
In orchestrating his maneuvers in Syria, Putin has demonstrated not only his support of Syria and Iran, but his ability to stand up and deliver on behalf of his allies. Putin achieved regional hegemony through Russia’s alliance with a broad Shi’ite arc that encompasses Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and is likely to include Iraq.
Nevertheless the deal with Russia does not punish Syrian President Bashar Assad or strike a blow at the regime; it merely says "don't do it again." So the lesson for dictators who commit atrocities is that you can use chemical weapons 10 or 15 times, and then you may be asked to give them up. Period. It's like telling an ax murderer that his punishment is to give up his ax -- or to promise to give up the ax and promise that he has no more axes hidden anywhere else.UN report cites ‘convincing’ evidence sarin used in Syria
The Syrian regime, and Iran, and Hezbollah, and Russia, seem very pleased with this diplomatic achievement. But why should we be?
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the UN inspectors’ report to a closed meeting of the UN Security Council before its release.Cameron: I wanted to act in Syria because of the lessons of the Holocaust
“This is a war crime and a grave violation of … international law,” Ban told the council in remarks distributed to the press. “The results are overwhelming and indisputable. The facts speak for themselves. … The international community has a responsibility to hold the perpetrators accountable and to ensure that chemical weapons never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who two weeks ago lost a vote in Parliament calling for military intervention in Syria, said he had wanted to act because of the lessons of the Holocaust.Four Reasons the Syria Deal Could Fall Apart
“The horror of the Holocaust is unique but the lessons we learn from it are absolutely applicable right across our society at home and abroad. In particular, the lesson of not standing by,” he told 500 guests at an appeal dinner marking the 25th anniversary of the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) Monday night.
The framework agreement contains a series of deadlines and requirements that could slip in the face of a government that has long been secretive about its arsenal and resistant to international inspections. Complicating the picture is the 2 1/2-year-old civil war, which will make it difficult, if not impossible, for international inspectors to do their work.Assad’s biological weapons absent from US-Russia deal
Here are some of the deadlines laid out in the framework agreement Saturday between Messrs. Kerry and Lavrov and what could go wrong with them:
There is “not a word” about biological weapons in the agreement that US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday, Channel 10 news said.Turkish warplanes shoot down Syrian helicopter
Assad has two biological weapons bases, one of them subterranean and a second in a coastal location, producing anthrax and other agents, the report said
Turkey scrambled two F-16 jets along the border between its southern Hatay province and Syria after warning the Mi-17 helicopter it was approaching Turkish airspace shortly before 14:30 (1130 GMT), the military said in a statement.Report: Half of Syria's Hospitals Destroyed or Damaged
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said a warplane shot down the helicopter after it ventured up to 2 km into Turkey near the border town of Yayladagi. "It was repeatedly warned by our air defense elements," he said.
According to a report by The Telegraph, an open letter published by the world's leading general medical journal, The Lancet, claimed Syrian rebels are largely to blame for the disintegration of the country's medical infrastructure.Study: Syria rebellion ‘dominated’ by al-Qaida and Islamic jihadists
"Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities and patients are breaking Syria's health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services," the letter said.
The Telegraph received an advance copy of defense consultancy IHS Jane’s new report, which is due to be published later this week. It estimates that around 100,000 fighters are currently battling the Assad regime in Syria, but that they have splintered into as many as 1,000 separate factions.Meet the ‘moderate’ Syrian sheikh young think tanker wants us to adopt
One in ten rebels, including thousands of foreigners, have aligned themselves with powerful international terrorist groups, most linked directly to al-Qaida.
Around 30,000 to 35,000 more agree with that worldview, but focus largely on establishing an Islamic caliphate in Syria instead of actively seeking ways to spread the conflict beyond its borders.
The State Department-funded Syrian Emergency Task Force and Elizabeth O’Bagy backed an anti-Semitic, anti-Shiite imam for presidency of the Syrian rebels.Netanyahu to meet Obama, urge more pressure on Iran
O’Bagy ran into trouble earlier this month after The Daily Caller revealed her dual role as a pundit urging war on the Assad regime in Syria and a paid contractor for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a pro-rebel front group. But while she still held a position at a connected Washington, DC think tank, O’Bagy strongly supported the anti-Semitic, anti-Shiite Sheikh Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib for a leadership position in an imaginary conquered Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington DC later this month, ahead of his scheduled address at the UN General Assembly in New York, and will urge a stepping up of pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear drive.Report: Iran set to shut down nuclear site in deal with West
“In a week and a half, I will go to the United Nations General Assembly, and before that I will meet with President Obama. I intend to focus on stopping Iranian nuclear program. Really stopping the nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting Tuesday.
Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, is willing to shut down a key nuclear site believed to be central in the Islamic Republic’s uranium enrichment program in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions that have crippled the country’s financial sector, according to a report which appeared in the prestigious German weekly Der Spiegel.Iranian President: “Clear to All of Us” That Western Moves Against Syria Part of Globe-Spanning Pro-Israel Conspiracy
According to intelligence sources who spoke with the newspaper, Rouhani is willing to allow Western inspectors to oversee the removal of centrifuges from the secretive Fordo plant. Rouhani may even announce the offer and delve further into details during his appearance before the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month.
Today he explained, according to Iranian and Western media sources, that Iran’s interests in Syria are grounded in the fact that it is at the center of a global conspiracy to boost Zionist control. Iran’s state-controlled Fars news agency described Rouhani’s speech, which was given to what the outlet describes as “ranking commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)”:Egyptian Military Storms Islamist Held Village
Egyptian security forces stormed Delga, an Islamist-controlled village in central Egypt that had been the scene of some of the worst anti-Christian violence in Egypt.Egypt Air Force Jets in Northern Sinai
According to reports, Egyptian soldiers and police entered Delga in the Minya province just after dawn, firing tear gas and searching for suspects,AFP reported. Security forces had arrested 56 terrorists by Monday afternoon.
Egyptian Air Force jets were seen circling Tuesday in the skies of northern Sinai, over the area of Sheikh Zwaid, according to Voice of Israel public radio. Sounds of explosions were heard as the Egyptian military continued its anti-terrorist operations against Islamist militias.Egypt to Re-open Rafiah for Special Cases, Say PA Sources
Egyptian military jets are not allowed in Sinai according to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979. However, Israel has allowed the Egyptian military to operate in northern Sinai recently, in order to root out the terrorist infrastructure that had formed there.
The Egyptians notified the PA that the crossing would operate four hours a day to allow patients and students to leave. The move came in response to a request by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, the sources said.
The Rafiah crossing has been closed for security reasons ever since the Egyptian army started a crackdown against terrorists in the Sinai peninsula.
Ma’an reported that Abbas on Monday telephoned the chief of the Egyptian intelligence, Maj-Gen. Muhammad Tuhami, and requested that the crossing be opened to allow students and humanitarian cases to leave Gaza.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013Elder of ZiyonAllah didn't think this one out all the way, though.Following are excerpts from a lecture delivered by Saudi cleric Muhammad Ali Shanqiti, which was posted on the Internet on March 23, 2013.
Muhammad Ali Shanqiti: Every Muslim man gets at least two black-eyed virgins in Paradise. Each virgin comes with 70 servants girls. You are permitted [to have sex] with the virgins as well as the servant girls. For every woman from this world who enters Paradise, you get 70 black-eyed virgins.
There are four types of women in Paradise. First, there are the women of this world who enter Paradise. Each one comes with 70 black-eyed virgins. The second type of woman in Paradise is the black-eyed virgin. Each comes with 70 servant girls. These servant girls are the third type. Sorry, there are only three types of women in Paradise.[…]
If you get married in this world, then [in Paradise], you get your wife from this world, along with 70 black-eyed virgins with whom you are allowed to have sex, and each of these 70 virgins comes with 70 servant girls.
So how many women do you get? That's the minimum.
Now, let's assume that you are married to four wives, each of whom comes with 70 black-eyed virgins, and each virgin comes with 70 servant girls… How many does it come to? God help you.[…]
Your reunion [with your wife] lasts for 70 earthly years. When the 70 years are about to come to an end, another black-eyed virgin calls to you from above: "Oh servant of Allah, don't we get a piece of you?"
You turn to her, and you see that she is more beautiful than the woman you are with. You ask her: "Who are you?" and she says: "I'm your virgin in Paradise. Allah told you about me, saying: 'There is more of them with Us'. I am one of the 'more'."
You leave that one and move on to the next. God help you…
You spend 70 years or so with her, and along comes the third, saying: "Oh servant of Allah, don't we get a piece of you?" You look at her, and she is even more beautiful than the one you are with.[…]
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PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
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