Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

10/1 Links Pt1: Talking about Islamist terrorism, How to get Khomeini to kiss your hand!

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Pretending the Problem Is Not There

Does this mean that all Muslims follow Islam's violent strictures? Of course not. The Koran and sayings of Mohammed contain peaceful, as well as violent, admonitions. A complex battle continues over which interpretation of these texts and traditions should win out, and where and when. It is not only mistaken, but downright untrue, to pretend the problem is not there. The truth that politicians believe we are not ready for is that, although the extremists have a wicked and -- for everyone -- obviously disastrous interpretation of Islam, it is not an implausible interpretation. The extremists do not get where they get to from nowhere. Unfortunately for the politicians, an increasing number of voters can see this.
There are many of the opinion that this problem should be out in the open, discussed and tackled. Not least in order to assist those Muslim scholars who are preaching against the extremists. Many will only jump if they are persuaded that they must in order to safeguard the future of their religion. Rather than apply such pressure, and provide some assistance, our politicians have chosen another way. They have chosen to lie. There are only two ways that lie will stop. When the Islamists prove them wrong more markedly on their own doorstep. Or when popular anger tells the politicians that their lies are transparent. It is interesting to consider which eventuality will be more uncomfortable for them.

Brendan O'Neill: I'm sorry, but we have to talk about the barbarism of modern Islamist terrorism

What motivates this perversity? What are its origins? Unwilling, or perhaps unable, to face up to the newness of this unrestrained, aim-free, civilian-targeting violence, Western observers do all sorts of moral contortions in an effort to present such violence as run-of-the-mill or even possibly a justifiable response to Western militarism. Some say, “Well, America kills women and children too, in its drone attacks”, wilfully overlooking the fact such people are not the targets of America’s military interventions – and I say that as someone who has opposed every American venture overseas of the past 20 years. If you cannot see the difference between a drone strike that goes wrong and kills an entire family and a man who crashes his car into the middle of a group of children accepting sweets from a US soldier and them blows himself and them up – as happened in Iraq in 2005 – then there is something wrong with you. Other observers say that Islamists, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also the individuals who attacked London and New York, are fighting against Western imperialism in Muslim lands. But that doesn’t add up. How does blowing up Iraqi children represent a strike against American militarism? How is detonating a bomb on the London Underground a stab at the Foreign Office? It is ridiculous, and more than a little immoral, to try to dress up nihilistic assaults designed merely to kill as many ordinary people as possible as some kind of principled political violence. (h/t MtTB)

Media Leaks Make Tracking Al Qaeda Terrorists Harder

A report in the New York Times Monday quotes American security experts as saying that recent disclosures about U.S. surveillance of Al Qaeda and other terror groups in the media has caused substantial damage to intelligence-gathering efforts seeking to detect future terror attacks. As a result of the disclosures, terrorists have significantly lowered their use of electronic communications, and as a result the government cannot intercept and analyze their messages.
While some officials attributed at least part of the caution to the revelations by Edward Snowden, who has leaked thousands of sensitive documents to the media – showing how far-reaching the government's surveillance efforts at home and abroad are – a more important factor was the August revelation that the U.S. had intercepted messages between Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

IDF fires on Palestinians at Gaza border fence

The Palestinian men were spotted near the border fence and initial reports indicated they were both armed. According to the IDF, soldiers in the area opened fire when the Palestinians refused to retreat from the fence after several warnings.
An IDF official told Walla News that the army believed the men were attempting to carry out a terrorist attack on the nearby kibbutz Nir Am, based on the evidence of tampering.

Palestinian Authority has little to show for UN observer-state status

Last year, like other less senior speakers – foreign ministers, prime ministers and the like – Mr. Abbas had been forced to stand meekly beside the great leather arm chair, his left arm pressed against its high back, while waiting to take his turn at the podium. But having his Palestinian Authority (PA) upgraded to the “observer state” of Palestine by a General Assembly vote last November, he was, as head of that state, entitled to the perquisites of high office. Palestine could now join UN agencies and sign treaties, and Mr. Abbas, like the Pope who is head of the Holy See, another non-member observer state, could sit in the big beige chair.
Apart from the first-class seat, however, Palestine has little to show for the UN status that will be a year old next month. The PA, instead, has chosen to bargain for prisoner releases rather than antagonize Israel by moving to capitalize on its new status.

Palestinian refugee killed in Syria, group says

The Workforce for Palestinians in Syria said that Muhannad Ahmad Abu Jrouh, 33, was killed during government shelling on Daraa refugee camp.
In Yarmouk camp, several buildings, including schools, were damaged during shelling, the group said.
The Syrian army has imposed a blockade on the camp for 77 days in a row, and there has been no electricity or fuel in the camp for months.

UN Security Council demanding aid access in Syria

The statement would call for demilitarizing hospitals, schools and residential neighborhoods. It would condemn “increased terrorist attacks resulting in numerous casualties and destruction carried out by organizations and individuals associated with al-Qaeda.”
It will also condemn “the widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities, as well as any human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law by armed groups.”

Syrian FM: We Intend to 'Reclaim' the Golan

Speaking at the General Assembly Monday, Muallem made a passing reference to the civil war, before aiming his verbal sword at Syria's neighbor to the south.
“The events in my country do not cause us to lose our way,” Muallem said. “We intend to reclaim the Golan that Israel is occupying.”
Israel, Muallem said, was the cause of most of the trouble in the Middle East, hinting that it was one of the forces behind the “foreign rebels” he and Assad say are attempting to unseat the Syrian leader. He also demanded that Israel give up any weapons of mass destruction it may have.

Say ‘Hi’ to Netanyahu, urges Syrian family outside White House

They were informed that the Israeli prime minister was visiting the White House, and a surprised smile appeared on their faces. “Tell him we say ‘Hi,’” Mohammed, 30, said.
“We want Netanyahu to take Bashar Assad and kill him,” chimed in his wife, Fatima, as she held her son, “because he killed a lot of my people.”
Sunni Muslims, the Alskkas made no effort to conceal the depth of their hatred for the Syrian president. The bloody civil war has hit their hometown of Homs especially hard, they said. Long before they managed to escape, via Saudi Arabia, there was little left of their neighborhood.

Protesters Heckle PM as He Arrives for Obama Meeting

Dozens of anti-Israel protesters greeted Binyamin Netanyahu's entourage as it moved through the streets of Washington, carrying the Prime Minister to a meeting with U.S. President Barack H. Obama. The protesters were expected to remain there for at least as long as the meeting continued.
The protesters carried signs with the usual anti-Israel messages, including “Israel is illegal,” “Israel is an apartheid state,” “Free Palestine now,” and more. The group was also shouting loud anti-Israel slogans. They are not expected to have an impact on the meeting.

Obama assures Netanyahu US will be ‘clear-eyed’ in talks to thwart Iran bomb

Netanyahu, for his part, told the president he appreciated the reiteration of that commitment to stop Iran, and advised that “sanctions should be strengthened” if Iran continues to move ahead toward the bomb. Significantly, Netanyahu demanded the full dismantling of Iran’s “military nuclear” capacity, and made plain that he did not believe President Hasan Rouhani’s assurances that Iran constituted no threat to other nations. Iran, Netanyahu told Obama in their joint media appearance at the Oval Office, remains bent on the destruction of Israel.
The two leaders, who spoke to the media after over an hour of talks, gave the impression of being at ease with each other and closely coordinated. They shook hands more than once; Obama patted Netanyahu on the arm at times; and the Israeli prime minister smiled warmly at the president.

Netanyahu holds his tongue, and will have to hold his fire

The prime minister “is always candid,” Obama vouchsafed just a little wryly at the tail end of his remarks. And one can imagine that Netanyahu was candid indeed behind closed doors, marshaling compelling argument, and evidence, to underpin his public contention that Iran “is committed to Israel’s destruction.”
But ultimately, Netanyahu knew all along that he and Obama would have to agree to disagree, that the president would not be deterred from putting the diplomatic route to the “test,” and that attempting a repeat of his May 2011 Oval Office lecture style (when he told Obama bitterly that Israel’s pre-1967 lines are indefensible) could only be counter-productive. He is certain there is no diplomatic route, only a blind alley, but he held his tongue.

Iran Lawmaker: Tehran Will Not Halt Nuclear Activity

A senior Iranian legislator said Tehran will not stop its nuclear activity, despite international pressure, state news agency Fars reported on Monday.
“Tehran will not accept any kind of suspension or halt and all Iranian nuclear facilities will continue their operation,” said Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, rapporteur of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.

Amid Iran Execution Wave, Anti-Regime Activist Blasts Rouhani Govt As “End of Reform”

Newly inaugurated Iranian president Hassan Rouhani came in for criticism last August when he nominated Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, who then headed Iran’s General Inspectorate Organization, to be his administration’s justice minister. Human rights groups had previously dubbed Pour-Mohammadi “minister of murder” for his key role in the 1988 executions of thousands of dissidents, in the overseas assassinations of political figures, and in the 1988 mass murder of intellectuals. Rouhani himself has a history of calling for the execution of anti-regime activists.

Iran Unhappy with Obama's Words to Netanyahu

Iran’s Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure Tuesday with the statement by US President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to which the “military option” still existed regarding Iran.
“We expect the US government to deal with Iran based on a realistic policy and talk to the great Iranian nation with [a language of] respect,” Ministry Spokesperson Marziyeh Afkham during her weekly press conference in the Iranian capital.

Iranian FM Derides 'Flip-Flopping' Obama via Twitter

One of Iran's top officials may have just damaged hopes of renewed ties with the United States after lashing out at President Barack Obama on Monday, Fox News reported.
Iran's Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, used Twitter to accuse Obama of imposing “illegal” sanctions on his country, an argument he has repeatedly made, and of doing a “flip flop.” That was an apparent reference to the president meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Iran’s bitter enemy.

When Rouhani told an undercover Israeli envoy how to deal with Iran

"In August 1986, in the midst of what would become the Iran-Contra Affair, an Israeli adviser to the prime minister, working undercover as a US envoy, met with Hasan Rouhani, the current president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Rouhani, in discussing ways to facilitate the release of seven US hostages then being held in Lebanon, gave the Israeli the following advice: “First and foremost, you have to be firm with [Iranian leader Ayatollah] Khomeini. Stand strongly before him… If you don’t bare sharp teeth before Khomeini, you’re going to have troubles all over the world. [But] if you threaten him with military force, he’ll kiss your hand and run.”

US concerned about Turkey's choice of Chinese missile system

The United States said on Saturday it had expressed serious concerns to Turkey over its decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm under US sanctions.
Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, announced this week that it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, US and European firms.

Clueless reporters, "experts" cannot distinguish Temple Mount from Al Aqsa Mosque

Here is a Reuters photo and caption:

A Palestinian uses a sling to throw a stone at Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron September 27, 2013. Israeli police clashed with Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem's Old City, the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank on Friday, reflecting growing tensions over an increase in Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa mosque. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

Notice how heroic the young man looks! Notice the angle of the photo, with the photographer in front of the slinger - normally a dangerous place to be. How likely is it that this photo was staged just for Reuters?

Oh, about 99%.

But lets look at the caption. It claims that the reason for these clashes are because more Jews are visiting the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Only one problem: No Jews visit the Al Aqsa Mosque. Period.

Muslims like to refer to the entire Temple Mount as the Al Aqsa Mosque, and as a result Western "experts" often believe them. Here is the truth, as simply as I could show it:

Lest you think that Reuters is the only organization that parrots Arab lies about "Jews storming the Al Aqsa Mosque," here is how Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, described Ariel Sharon's 2000 visit to the Temple Mount in 2010:

Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to the site of the Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem on September 29, 2000, and the response of Israeli security forces to Palestinian protestors, led to sustained clashes involving Israeli forces and armed Palestinians in what became known as the Al Aqsa intifada, or uprising.

To describe the Temple Mount as merely "the site of the Al Aqsa Mosque" would be akin to calling Manhattan "the site of Central Park." In fact, Human Rights Watch not once uses the proper term "Temple Mount" (or even the Arabic equivalent, "Haram al-Sharif") on its website.

Muslims like to say that Jews are "storming the Al Aqsa Mosque" because that helps characterize Jews as aggressively attacking a Muslim holy place. Western "experts" should know better.

Yesterday, I tweeted HRW asking a simple question:

Yes or no, @KenRoth and @HRW : Do you support the human right of Jews to freely visit and pray at their holiest place?
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) September 30, 2013

Of course, I didn't get a response. Because the human rights of Jews to have access to their own holy sites are not as important as the threat of violence by Muslims, and HRW makes a mockery of its pretense to care about "human rights" when it makes such calculations. Unless a reporter corners a HRW representative and asks him this question point blank, we will never get an answer from them.

PalArab death toll in Syria: 1597. Plus, reports Syria now using fuel-air bombs.

According to the Action Group of Palestinians of Syria, the number of Palestinian Arabs killed in Syria so far is 1597.

Eight were killed last week.

Here is a video from yesterday of the aftermath of an airstrike at the Yarmouk camp, where most Palestinian Syrians live.

So called "pro-Palestinian" groups are about as silent as they usually are. Instead, they are protesting outside Israeli stores in England and Australia. An Israeli company selling environmentally friendly products is clearly a bigger threat to world peace than Syrians directly bombing civilians to these oh-so-moral anti-Israel protesters.

Meanwhile, now that Syria is saying they won't use chemical weapons any more, the world doesn't have to be concerned over this new weapon, according to HRW:

A Syrian government airstrike using fuel-air explosive bombs hit outside a secondary school in the opposition-held city of Raqqa on September 29, 2013, killing at least 14 civilians. At least 12 of those killed were students attending their first day of classes.

A Raqqa resident who went to the school immediately after the attack told Human Rights Watch that he saw 14 bodies, including some without limbs. A doctor from National Hospital in Raqqa said he saw 12 dead bodies, most of them students, and the hospital treated 25 wounded.

The blast wounds and flash burns visible on victims in videos and photographs, coupled with the body positions and few shrapnel wounds, indicates the use of fuel-air explosives (FAE), also known as “vacuum bombs,” Human Rights Watch said. More powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions of comparable size, fuel-air explosivesinflict extensive damage over a wide area, and are therefore prone to indiscriminate impact in populated areas.

Five rockets shot towards Israel last weekend

Gaza's NGO Safety Office writes:

09/28/2013 08:00 28 SEP: Over the past 2 days, Pal. operatives fired 5 HMRs ["homemeade rockets"] from Beit Hanoun, NG, toward the Green Line. 3 rockets exploded prematurely.

The terror groups are still trying to strike at Israel. Just because you don't hear about it doesn't mean it isn't.

This is besides the three projectiles the week before.

Norway press council declares that vile cartoon is not antisemitic

Last May, I reported on a disgusting cartoon published in Norway's Dagbladet. Here is my translated version:

As I noted then, this cartoon was clearly aimed at the tiny Jewish community in Norway:

Only Jews routinely circumcise boys when they are infants. (Some Muslims will have doctors circumcise boys in the hospital soon after birth, but not in their homes.)

Only religious Jews are associated with black hats and beards.

Muslim circumcision, and female genital mutilation when practiced, is not a ceremony with prepared texts from prayer books.

There are only about 1300 Jews in Norway, while there are over 100,000 Muslims.

Despite his protestations, [cartoonist] Drefvelin is clearly aiming this cartoon at the minuscule Jewish population of Norway, not the growing Muslim population.

Now the Press Council of Norway has declared that the vile cartoon is not antisemitic.

PFU Secretariat pointed out in its proposal to the opinion that in the Norwegian media hass a tradition of caricature with very wide latitude, and those who feel wronged or violated should not have a veto over what can be published.

"This is an important, a fundamental issue for the press and freedom of expression such that even if this strip was aimed at one particular religion, I would have acquitted Dagbladet," said Martin Riber Sparre in Today's Market.

He added that if the Jewish community felt threatened by the comic strip, it was a matter for the police and not the PFU.

I would still love to know why the artist would say that he chose to depict the people attacking the child as members of the tiny Jewish community rather than the far more numerous Muslim community.

We know the reason, of course - the Jews aren't going to threaten to murder him, unlike Muslims. So it is far safer to characterize Judaism as a bloodthirsty religion than to worry about ruffling Islam's feathers.

Over time, incidents like these ensure that there would be real hatred against Jews in Europe. This specific cartoon could be explained away, of course, but the cumulative effect means that Jews will be perceived as barbarians in Norwegian media.

(h/t Ian and IsraelWhat)

9/30 Links Pt2: Story of the Jews - Last Episode, Kurdish Festival in Jerusalem, More EU Hypocrisy

From Ian:

'Israeli Apartheid? I Know What Apartheid Really Is'

After participating in a two-day conference held in Jerusalem last week, Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, a member of the Parliament of South Africa and founder of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), vocalized why calling Israel an apartheid state actually "minimizes the pain of apartheid."
Meshoe, along with 25 other international members of parliament, is one of the chairmen of the Israel Allies Caucuses, which represent hundreds of members of Congress and Parliament around the world. Under the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF), these caucuses coordinate international activity on Israel-related issues.

Daphne Anson: "Christian Palestinianism ... The Inverted Mirror Image Of Christian Zionism"

Below is a very disturbing insight into the malicious phenomenon dubbed "Christian Palestinianism" as exposed by Dr Paul Wilkinson, of Hazel Grove Gospel Church in Stockport, Cheshire and author of For Zion’s Sake: Christian Zionism and the Role of John Nelson Darby. In this talk a couple of years ago (but no less valuable for that) he demonstrates the political revisionism, replacement theology, and repugnant teachings of organisations like Sabeel that promote a movement in which "The Holocaust is resented, not remembered," that ignores the violence to which Israel is subject, and that aims to portray Jesus not as what he was, a Jew from Judea, but as a "Palestinian born under occupation".

Muslim scholar: 'I refuse to let Islam fall captive to the Islamists'

There is such a thing as a different kind of Islam. Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a student of pluralistic Islam, is a British physician specializing in sleep disorders. She is also an author, a newspaper columnist and an associate professor of medicine at the State University of New York. Her paper on "The psychological manipulation of Islam in the service of terror focusing on the cultural phenomenon of suicide bombing," made her the first physician and first Muslim woman to be selected as a 2010 Templeton-Cambridge Fellow in Journalism at the University of Cambridge.
Ahmed arrived in Israel last week to attend the 13th International Counterterrorism Conference, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, where we met. For us, who are accustomed to anti-Israeli positions, her sympathetic views on Israel breed hope that there is such a thing as a different kind of Islam.

Europe wouldn’t allow it, why should Israel?

More importantly, even without legislation, there is no country that allows foreign donations for radical political NGOs that undermine the country’s founding ethos. There is not one country in Europe that dreams of funding one of the bodies in Germany dealing with the rights of refugees from central Europe. And of course, there is not one European country that would deliver money to an NGO in the Czech Republic or in Poland promoting the German right of return (if such an organization existed).
Double Standards
Those are the rules in Europe. So why do official government bodies in Europe heavily fund NGOs promoting the destructive fantasy of the Palestinian right of return to Israel? Why is there a European fortune, according to a report by NGO Monitor, behind a conference of an extreme left Israeli NGO preaching the “right of return?” There is, after all, no “right of return” for the tens of thousands of exiles inside Europe who were deported in the 1940s, and certainly there is no funding for NGOs dealing with this issue. The idea of return contradicts the European Human Rights Court ruling in the matter of refugees in Cyprus and regarding Germans deported from Poland. So why are principles that are widely accepted in Europe practically and legally turned upside down when it comes to the Middle East?

European MPs: Why We Support Israel

Three members of the European Union parliament who were in Jerusalem last week for the Israel Allies Caucuses spoke to Arutz Sheva about why they support Israel.
Italian representative Magdi Christiano Allam cited Israel’s freedom of religion, and said he hopes that Europe will come to realize that only Israel will guarantee freedom of worship at the many holy sites in Jerusalem.
Netherlands representatives Bastiaan Belder explained why Europe needs healthy ties with Israel – and why he is concerned that the EU’s current policy may come across as “double faced.”

Barry Rubin: The region: How the far Left controls campuses

What was he talking about? Jews? He explained that he had just come from a meeting where it had been made clear that the university had a problem: It was getting Arab money, but on the secret condition that while it was for teaching about the Middle East, none of it could be used to teach about Israel. The purpose of the meeting had been how to solve this problem. The solution? Simple: They would call the institution to be created the “Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.” It was explicitly expressed that this was how the problem would be dealt with.
Quigley expressed his disgust to me.
Ever since then, I have referred to that institution as the “Center for Contemporary Arab Money.”

Jewish Group Takes California State University Trustees to Task Over Anti-Israel Professor

AMCHA Initiative, a national organization fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses, is taking the Board of Trustees of California State University to task over a CSU-Northridge mathematics professor’s use of the school’s name and resources to promote the boycott of Israel.
In what could be a precedent-setting move, AMCHA is asking the university’s trustees, meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday at their annual summit, to respond to specific California legislation that bars university employees from using school resources, in this case email and web hosting, to support a boycott.

Camera: Personifying C-SPAN's Tolerance of Anti-Israel, Anti-Jewish Callers

The record, clearly shown by video clips and transcripts at C-SPAN Watch, proves that Washington Journal routinely accepts callers' anti-Jewish racism and anti-Israel defamation including blaming Jews for problems throughout the world. No other ethnic or religious group has been subjected to such continuous and virulent defamation on the network. Israel is the only country defamed on a regular basis by a cadre of determined, indulged callers who are rarely challenged by hosts or guests.
One of the most troublesome aspects of this chronic problem is C-SPAN management's complete indifference to it – a refusal to respond to complaints or acknowledge it in any way. C-SPAN is long overdue, whether due to ignorance or design, to correct Journal's journalistic malpractice of allowing inflammatory, antisemitic fallacies to be disseminated to millions of potential viewers. Cable television viewers should e-mail, call or write TV providers (cable or satellite) and urge them to call for an end to this chronic problem. Keep in mind that a portion of your cable/satellite fees supports C-SPAN.

What makes US-Israeli intelligence co-operation exceptional?

Simply put, it takes a rather large journalistic leap to assert that the NSA is routinely sending unminimized information about U.S. citizens to Israel without any protection measures.
The fact remains that the U.S. is engaged in sober and even-handed intelligence gathering. Of course the United States should and does share intelligence with Israel as many of the same people and terrorist groups would target both countries. It is hard to get too concerned up about what Israel might do with any unminimized information that might come its way. They have very real threats along their borders and beyond. It is most likely that their resources are devoted to the terrorist groups and hostile governments in their own neighborhood, rather than the email I just sent my parents.

Will Norway’s New Government Crack Down on Anti-Semitism?

Earlier this month, conservative candidates in Norway won landslide elections, deposing the Labour party majority that has ruled for nearly a decade. Many are hopeful that the new government will address social intolerance in Norway, including the rampant anti-Semitism affecting a population of nearly 2,000 Jews.
But Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, an author who has written extensively on the prejudices facing Norway’s Jewish community, is skeptical that Norwegians will be able to forget their prejudices. He uses the phrase “part-time anti-Semitism” to describe common attitudes and to highlight the general public’s susceptibility to bias.

French Comedian: ‘One Can be Jewish and Not be Completely Disgusting’ (VIDEO)

New York based French Jewish artist, activist and Algemeiner blogger Ron Agam said that “These incendiary remarks are the culmination of an attitude often found in French media where Jews are often demonized for their support of Israel.”
“These two minutes set off a huge storm within the Jewish community in France, including outrage and demands of resignation addressed to CANAL+,” Agam said. “The indignity is mounting daily; the realization that such words of extreme gravity can be pronounced on TV is creating a feeling that it is OK to lash out with anti-Semitic remarks.”

Chinese billionaire to fund joint China-Technion program

The richest man in Asia is giving $130 million to the Technion to build a research center in China. Li Ka Shing, estimated to be worth some $31 billion – and, according to Forbes, the world’s eighth-richest man – is funding the joint project between the Technion and Shantou University, located in Guangdong Province.
The new center, to be called the Technion Guangdong Institute of Technology (TGIT), will be located on its own 330,000 square meter campus to be built by the local government, while the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) will fund projects and programs at the new center. LKSF is the main funding arm for Shantou, providing nearly all of the school’s HK$6 billion endowment. The $130 million gift for the joint Technion-Shantou project, meanwhile, constitutes the largest gift ever to the Technion, and one of the largest to any Israeli school.

Cultural pride, and unlikely guests, at Kurdish Jewish festival
Muslim visitors travel from Syria and Iraq to join their brethren at the annual Saharane celebration in Jerusalem

“The Kurdish people you know are in four lands, and you go to Israel, a country like Israel — a powerful country, a big country — and you see Kurdish people there, and they are powerful, it makes you very very happy. I thought I will go and see old people, but I saw young people dancing, singing, it was really great.”
Seeing an immigrant Kurdish community thrive was especially exciting for Darwish.
“Before I came to Israel, I thought, no, nobody helps us, no one gives us anything. But now that I was there, and I saw the people, I say why not, these people are Kurdish, and they are strong, and they get help from Israel. And I think that between Kurdistan and Israel the relation is very good. (h/t Zvi)

First Egyptian Righteous Among the Nations honored

The Berlin-trained Dr. Mohamed Helmy is credited with saving 21-year-old Anna Boros Gutman and her family, whom he helped starting in 1942.
During a wave of Jewish deportation in the city, Helmy hid Gutman in a cabin he owned in Berlin-Buch, where she stayed until almost the end of World War II. Her parents and grandmother were hidden separately

Denmark marks 70th anniversary of rescue of Jews

A ceremony has been held in Denmark to mark the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of 7,300 Jews during World War II to prevent their deportation to a Nazi concentration camp.
At Copenhagen’s synagogue Sunday, Jewish community leader Finn Schwarz told several hundred people it was “almost a miracle” that the October 1943 operation in Nazi-occupied Denmark dodged German patrol boats to deliver the Jews across a waterway to neutral Sweden.

The Story of the Jews Episode 5/5 - Return

A new entry in the PalArab propaganda dictionary

It is no secret that a major weapon used by the Palestinian Arabs has been to co-opt the English language and use phrases like "illegal occupation" or "West Bank" or "historic Palestine" or "1967 borders" that become mainstream even when they are inaccurate or nonsensical. It is also no secret that they have used this weapon to great effect to subtly brainwash the world towards a false narrative and history.

The official PA news agency, WAFA, has used a new phrase dozens of times since last year. They now almost invariably refer to Jews peacefully visiting the Temple Mount as...."Jewish fanatics."

From today's WAFA press release:

Israeli fanatics resumed Monday provocative tours of the yards of al-Aqsa Mosque, an Islamic holy place, in Jerusalem’s Old City, said witnesses.

They said some 40 Israelis toured the compound in small groups under heave police protection.

No contact was reported between the Israelis and Muslim worshippers at the site.

Last week:

The clashes that have occurred almost daily in al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and provoked by Israeli police measures against Arab worshippers and tours by Jewish fanatics continued to dominate the front page headlines in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Thursday.

The earliest use of that phrase to describe devout Jews who want to respectfully visit their holiest site that I found was from April 2012, when they transitioned from calling the Jewish visitors "settlers" into calling them "fanatics."

In Arabic, they still refer to them as "settlers," which is equally inaccurate.

The obvious reason for their choice of the word "fanatic" in English is to deflect the idea that Jews have basic human rights to practice their religion. By any reasonable yardstick, Jews should have an (at least) equal rights to visit the Temple Mount as Muslims do. Palestinian Arab leaders, who have perverted the entire field of human rights into something grotesque to serve their own selfish interests, are very sensitive to how that same weapon can be used against them. So they are subtly trying to equate Jews who are peacefully visiting their holiest site with Al Qaeda-type fanatics, implying that these Jews are violent and unstable.

As we've seen in countless videos of Muslims throwing rocks and debris from inside their own "third holiest site," the truth would reveal something quite different.

This use of the phrase is meant to make the West comfortable with the idea of denying Jews their own human rights.

Has Human Rights Watch ever asserted the right of Jews to ascend the Temple Mount? No. In fact, the phrase "Temple Mount " is completely absent from their site; but they refer to Ariel Sharon's visit to the site as if he visited the "Al Aqsa Mosque" - which he didn't - and they called that "provocative."

There's another victory for the Arabs who twist language to eliminate Jewish human rights.

So here we see the birth of another example of how Palestinian Arabs will create and endlessly repeat lying phrases to brainwash the West. So far, they have a very good track record.

This is just one more attempt.

World's oldest Siddur discovered

From TheBlaze:

Hobby Lobby President Steve Green isn’t just the head of a popular craft chain. He and his family also own, oversee and operate “The Green Collection,” one of the world’s largest collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts (there are over 40,000 ancient relics and texts). A recent discovery within this fascinating compilation is making headlines this week, as it is believed to be the oldest Jewish prayer book ever found.

The small text, which had a Carbon-14 test that placed its origins to 840 A.D., is likely to provide fascinating insight into early Jewish culture. And, as a press release announcing the find highlights, it “may well be the earliest connection today’s practicing Jews have to the roots of their modern-day rabbinic liturgy.”

Plainly stated: It’s a big deal.

The document is in its complete parchment and original binding, factoids that are quite stunning considering its age. Written in Hebrew, the script is described as “archaic” — so old in fact that it uses Babylonian vowel pointing (a system that is no longer in use).

The Forward adds that it appears to be a Sabbath prayerbook with the addition of 100 benedictions that should be said every day.

Frustratingly, the Green Collection did not release any photos of the text of the siddur itself, instead giving out three separate photos of the outside (slightly translucent) cover.

While the Babylonian pointing system is archaic, the text itself would be easily readable to any modern Hebrew reader, so this purposeful hiding of even a single page of the text from the world smacks of hubris. We will have to wait for late 2014 or early 2015 for the Green Collection to publish its research.

The current oldest Siddur manuscript known is that of R' Saadiah Gaon which is at Oxford, from the late 9th century. I could not find any images of that siddur online either.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Follow up on anti-Israel propaganda in Irish schools

Received via email, people you can write to in order to protest the apparent inclusion of anti-Israel propaganda in Irish school curricula that I mentioned recently:

It has been extremely difficult to establish who is actually funding this booklet but it seems, the booklet was funded by the Education for Reconcillation,which is a project run by the CDVEC (now CDETB) who received the money through PEACE III who get their funding from the EU

We must now speak out loudly against this material being used in Irish schools, it clearly is intended to push a one sided agenda onto Irish school children.

The material is available for schools in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland..

It is vital that you speak out now,

Please email the following organisations

Education for Reconciliation info@cdu.cdvec.ie

Chairperson of CDVEC now CDETB, Cllr Paddy Bourke - pbourkelabour@eircom.net

Object to the Chairperson that CDVEC (now CDETB) used public funds to promote one sided anti Israel material for schools. Ask why was Irish and EU tax payers money used to produce such material ? Did he agree with supporting and funding this material produced by CDVEC, Sadaka Ireland and The Centre for Cross Border Studies.

Peace III Programme , (Funded by the Special EU Programmes Body) interreg@seupb.eu

Please object to EU funding being used to promote such one sided partisan material.

The Centre for Cross Border Studies - Mairead Hughes (Finance Officer) m.hughes@qub.ac.uk

Once again object to the material which they produced in conjunction with Sadaka Ireland and CDVEC, Enquire how much money they gave to produce this material ?

Minister for Education - Northern Ireland - John O'Dowd - john.odowd@sinn-fein.ie

Write to express concern that this material will be available for schools across Northern Ireland

Minister for Education - Republic of Ireland - Ruairi Quinn ruairi.quinn@oireachtas.ie

Write to express concern that this material will be available for schools across the Republic of Ireland.

We stress the need to remain polite, It may be worth including in your mails concerns about Roger Waters hardline bias against Israel and antisemitic behaviour.

(h/t Irish4Israel)

9/30 Links Pt1: Arab Colonialism, ICJ Bias, The Phantom Fatwa, 5 Star Hotel Opens in Ramallah.

From Ian:

Israel, Colonialism, and the Arab World

Moroccan-born Bensoussan, who made his name as a Holocaust historian, argues that the Jews have been colonised thrice over.
The first wave of colonisation was Arab-Muslim. By the time the Arab conquerors had swept over the Middle East and North Africa, the Jews had been living in the region for 1,000 years.
Under Islam, according to the eighth-century Pact of Omar, indigenous Jews and Christians were permitted to practise as long as they acquiesced to the ‘dhimmi’ condition of inferiority and institutionalised humiliation. Dhimmis were exploited for specific talents and skills.
Bensoussan observes that the Islamic order was built on a ‘colonial’ notion – submission. The Muslim submits to Allah, the Muslim woman submits to her husband, the non-Muslim dhimmi submits to the Muslim. At the very bottom of the pile is the slave. Women, minorities and slaves are curiously absent from Edward Said’s postcolonial ‘bible’, “Orientalism”, Bensoussan notes.

Oslo Accords Debated at Los Angeles Conference

Middle East Forum President Daniel Pipes said at the “Oslo @ Twenty” conference, organized by the American Freedom Alliance, that Israel’s key mistake is indicated by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s statement, “One does not make peace with one’s friends. One makes peace with one’s enemy.”
“One cannot ‘make peace with one’s enemy,’” Pipes said. “Rather, one makes peace with one’s former enemy.” The Palestinians “were never defeated,” and if both sides in a conflict have aspirations to win, the conflict continues, he explained.
Israel “owns peace” as the party in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that can both control its army and deliver peace, yet acted as the buyer in the Oslo Accords even though the Palestinians had no peace to sell, said David Suissa, president of the Tribe Media Corporation. Suissa’s take differed from the one offered by Bret Stephens, deputy editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, who said peace “is in the hands of the Arab world to give.”

Grand Park Hotel Celebrates Being First Five-Star Hotel in Palestine

The headquarters of the Grand Park hotel in Ramallah celebrated its coronation as the first "Five-Star" hotel in Palestine. The celebration was attended by Rula Maay’a, the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Musa Hadid, the Mayor of Ramallah, the hotel’s Chairman Loay Qawas, and its General Director, Mohammad Zamlat. There was also a crowd of businessmen and representatives from many institutions.

‘ICJ treatment of Israel biased, as seen in Syria’

The American attorney had previously voiced his opinion that Syrian President Bashar Assad should be taken to court. He said actions carried out by Assad over the past two years “are war crimes and crimes against humanity and the Syrian regime must be held accountable.”
“The fact that the General Assembly referred the matter of the terror prevention fence to the ICJ so quickly… but after more than two years and 100,000 people killed,” has yet to prosecute Assad or Syria shows the system is extremely flawed, he says. “The legal system is biased against Israel, and the Syrian example proves it.”

Israel is Invited To Help Destroy WMD In Syria

However - one of Syria's most immediate neighbours - Israel - is not a member of the London Eleven and is vitally interested in the Security Council taking steps to collect and destroy such weapons.
Resolution 2118 requires Israel to disclose to the Security Council any information it holds on chemical weapons acquired by any anti- Assad forces in Syria. Israel is widely assumed to have extensive knowledge of the existence of such chemical weapons in Syria.
Israel can deny it has any information - but risks being in breach of Resolution 2118 if information in its possession is subsequently revealed.
Russia has cleverly forced the Security Council to determine the truth of Russia's claim - whilst any evidence supplied by Russia and Israel will be critical in collecting and destroying those chemical weapons.

Peres: I Doubt Assad Ever Read Anne Frank's Diary

President Shimon Peres, on a visit to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, compared on Sunday the gassing of millions of Jews during the Holocaust to the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
"I doubt that [Syrian President Bashar] Assad read the Diary of Anne Frank, since he did not hesitate to use chemical weapons and kill innocent children and women,” said Peres, adding, “Same goes for Iran which develops nuclear weapons of mass destruction.”

MEMRI: The U.S. Administration Swallows The Lie About Khamenei's 'Fatwa' Against Nuclear Arms

In his address to the U.N. General Assembly (September 24, 2013), U.S. President Barack Obama stated: "The Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons." In fact, such a fatwa was never issued by Supreme Leader Khamenei and does not exist; neither the Iranian regime nor anybody else can present it.
The deception regarding "Khamenei's fatwa" has been promoted by the Iranian regime and its spokesmen for several years. Each time it was mentioned, the "fatwa" was given a different year of issue – for example, 2005, 2007, or 2012 – but the text of the "fatwa" was never presented.
MEMRI has conducted in-depth research with regard to this "fatwa" and has published reports demonstrating that it is a fiction.

Isi Leibler: President Obama and Israel: Looming confrontations

The US and Europe are desperate for a face-saving situation to avoid confrontation with the Iranians.
They ignore the ultimate result of the buildup of underground nuclear facilities and ballistic missiles.
Furthermore, the bitter reality is that after Obama’s inept zigzagging in relation to Syria, his threat that the US is “determined to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb” and will if necessary “use all elements of our power, including military force,” rings hollow and is unlikely to be taken seriously by the Iranians – or anyone else.
It must be deeply frustrating for Netanyahu to see the rogue state of Iran courted by the US and Europe, while Israel, a democracy and genuine ally of the US, is treated so shabbily. The chilling parallels with the betrayal of Czechoslovakia and Chamberlain’s policies of appeasement and “peace in our time” during the late 1930s will prey on our minds in the months to come.

Iran Knows What the West Forgot: Charm is Cheap

In this way, Ahmadinejad’s revolting persona and style made it that much easier for his successor to succeed at playing the “good cop” in any negotiations. And it is actually Iran’s hardline supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on Iranian policy, so the Rouhani theatrics are ultimately meaningless anyway. While the country’s dictator recently said that Iran can show “heroic flexibility,” he’s not actually beholden to anyone, so he can easily change his mind after buying another 6-12 months of nuclear enrichment time by “negotiating” with the West through Rouhani. To resolve a crisis that could otherwise end up as a massive regional war in the near future, Iran must: 1) stop all nuclear enrichment, 2) dismantle the illicit underground nuclear facility near Qom and the second-generation centrifuges in Natanz, 3) remove all enriched material from Iranian territory, and 4) stop the construction of the heavy water reactor in Arak.
If the international community hopes to stop Iran’s nuclear program before it’s too late, any deal with Iran must ensure that the above four steps are verifiably taken. Any lesser deal would allow Iran to continue developing nuclear weapons capabilities behind a smokescreen of promises, as the North Koreans have done. Will the West be charmed all the way to Armageddon?

Anne Bayefsky: Rouhani Gives Obama Cover to Delay and Dither

Notwithstanding years of stymieing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, and lying about the existence of nuclear facilities, he assured his audience: “Iran’s nuclear program… pursue[s] exclusively peaceful purposes.” The proof? “Nuclear weapons…contradict our religious and ethical convictions.” “Ethical” convictions like sponsoring terrorism, training chemical weapons enthusiasts, and questioning the Holocaust.
When the farcical spectacle was all over, Rouhani had succeeded in providing the Obama administration and the European Union with enough cover to buy into a catastrophic delay. Israel will now face an even more hostile American president, should it decide to go it alone.

‘Trust, but verify’ in Persian

Under the circumstances, before agreeing to lessen economic sanctions, the US and other nations must insist on verifiable, concrete steps that do not just delay Iran’s breakout date by a few months or a year but that effectively shut down the nuclear weapon program.
“Trust, but verify” helped end the Cold War between the US and the USSR. We should not rule out the outside chance that the same combination of openness to diplomacy and dialogue and strict adherence to due diligence will pay off in negotiations with Tehran. But while Gorbachev was presiding over a USSR on the verge of collapse, the mullahs running the Islamic Republic, though smarting from economic sanctions, have too many reasons to press ahead with their drive for nuclear weapons capability.

Rice: Sanctions stay until Iran proves it isn’t seeking a bomb

“Obviously, we and others in the international community have every reason to be skeptical of that and we need to test it, and any agreement must be fully verifiable and enforceable,” said Rice in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
She said it had been clear to Iran that it “had to meet its international obligations under Security Council resolutions and that the sanctions would remain until those obligations were satisfied.”

Israel and Others in Mideast View Overtures of U.S. and Iran With Suspicion

Saudi Arabia and other gulf states view Iran as a regional nemesis whose nuclear program is only one element of a broader effort to project power. The rivalry is made more bitter by the sectarian dimension and competition over supplying oil to the world. The Saudi leadership has long been uneasy with Mr. Obama’s handling of the Arab uprisings that began in 2011, which it sees as a threat to the regional order. The president’s overtures to Iran add to a growing impatience and exasperation among Arabs in the gulf over Washington’s retreat from threats to strike Syria, whose civil war is viewed as a proxy for the larger sectarian and strategic battle unfolding across the region.

UAE Condemning Iranian Occupation of its Territories

While the United Arab Emirates has welcomed the refreshing stance of Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani, it has called upon the international community to urge Iran to respond to repeated calls for a just settlement of the islands dispute between the two countries, either through direct, serious negotiations or by referral to the International Court of Justice.
In 1971, after the British finally left the Middle East, Iranian forces occupied the islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, and Lesser Tunb, located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf between Iran and the UAE. Iran continues to occupy the islands, which the UAE has been contesting to no avail.

Palestinian students riot at Gaza border crossing

Hundreds of agitated Palestinian students set to study abroad stormed a barrier gate at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday after being denied entry to the Sinai Peninsula and forced to wait at the border terminal for several days.
On Saturday, the Egyptian army reopened the Rafah border crossing, after shutting it last week due to security threats along the border with the Hamas-controlled territory. Hamas officials said that 300 Palestinians were expected to enter Egypt daily until further notice.

Gunman kill 3 Egyptian officers in Sinai, militants post video

The Egyptian army says Gaza-based militants take part in attacks over the border and accuses Hamas of doing too little to secure the area, allegations it denies.
In the latest attacks, gunmen opened fire on a police station in the city of El-Arish in North Sinai, killing two policemen as they were eating breakfast outside the building. In a separate incident, a police officer walking in the city was shot in the head and chest and killed.

Lebanon Encroaches on Israel's Offshore Border

Official Israeli sources told the newspaper that Lebanon is about to award offshore oil and gas exploration licenses in areas that encroach on Israel's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Lebanon published tenders for offshore oil and gas exploration licenses in early September, in five blocks in its EEZ.
It is a highly provocative act which has the potential to greatly inflame hostilities between the two nations.

The EoZ Peace Plan

The reason that Israeli Jews don't trust the Palestinian Arabs is self-evident to everyone with eyes: because the PLO has have reneged on agreements in the past, such as Oslo II. They launched a terror war as a response to failed negotiations. The very first promise that Yasir Arafat made in the 1993 exchange of letters with Yitzhak Rabin, where he stated "the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators" was proven a sham. Even today the terrorist offshoot of Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, is still around and still bragging of its terrorist bona fides.

The PA has done little in the intervening years to make Israelis feel that the PLO/PA could ever be trusted again.

In Article 5 of Annex 1 of the Interim Agreement of 1995, known as Oslo II, the PA promised to provide security as well as free access for Jews to visit the holy sites in Area A, namely Joseph's Tomb and the Shalom Al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho.

The PA never lived up to these promises either, and the only way Jews can visit these holy sites today are with scheduled monthly visits coordinated with the IDF under heavy security. There are still violent incidents reported at each site.

My peace plan is very simple. Have the PA adhere to its own signed agreements relative to these two sites - just for starters.

This means that the PA would ensure normal daily access to the holy sites in Area A. They would assure that all Jews who visit are safe and feel safe.

This also means that they would have to educate their people in Nablus and Jericho that (just as they insist to the West) they have no problem with Jews, but only with Zionism. Therefore, their people should show respect to those who want to visit and pray at their own holy sites. This would involve a major publicity campaign that would result in a situation where anyone who wants to throw rocks and firebombs at the Jews would be shamed, stopped and reported by their own people. It means that kids would be taught that they must respect Jews as much as they should respect Muslims and Christians. Jewish tourists to those areas would feel free to visit nearby stores and shops safely.

The way things were before the first intifada.

If this would happen - if Palestinian Arabs would act according not only to their signed agreements but also according to their own words when they speak to Western media as far as respecting Judaism and Jews - it would cause a major shift in how Israelis think. It might take a couple of years but when coexistence returns, so would trust. With trust would come the desire for peace. And with the desire for peace would be a flexibility on the part of Israelis that has not been seen in decades. It would be driven by Israeli Jews, not by Americans cajoling both sides towards an illusory "peace."

It all comes down to trust.

Of course, as long as EU-funded NGOs, PA TV and other media, PA politicians and pundits are working overtime against an atmosphere of trust, this is impossible. But the single most effective thing that the Arabs could do, if they were interested in real peace, would be to work to re-establish trust. Without that, everything else is doomed. Israeli reciprocity is a given; after all, isn't that what Israeli Jews want more than anything else, to have normal relations with their neighbors?

On the other hand, any agreement signed without trust is worse than worthless. It is telling that the existing efforts from Oslo I to the Roadmap all were predicated on confidence building measures before peace could occur - and that basic prerequisite seems to have been dropped by the current round of talks that seems aimed at an agreement being signed without that crucial component.

Now, the question is - why aren't the EU, UN and US working towards such a self-evident requirement to establish a real state of trust? How could any shortcut plan possibly work without building trust, that basic prerequisite for peace?

Abbas, in his talk to prominent American Jews, airily stated that "Jerusalem will be an open city. They can come and go freely." Really? Jews would be allowed to freely visit the Temple Mount and the Kotel the Mount of Olives, under Abbas' desired PA security control, without fear? When the PA cannot even make that promise today, one that they signed, for Area A?

In the end, the fact that this EoZ peace plan is not tenable - that the PLO is demanding concessions without giving the Israelis any confidence that they would adhere to this foundational requirement - is really all the proof you need that real peace is impossible.

Arabs again promise UNRWA funds that they'll never pay

From UNRWA, a September 26 press release:

We, members of the League of Arab States and other supporters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), met today in New York under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States to reassert our support for UNRWA’s mandate in providing assistance and protection to Palestine refugees and to identify practical ways to strengthen that support.

We welcomed Members of the League of Arab States’ engagement to achieve and sustain the 7.8% target for Arab government contributions to UNRWA’s core budget as set out in numerous resolutions of the Council of the League of Arab States since 1987.

The Arab League has been promising to fund 7.8% of UNRWA's core budget since 1987?

Forget that this amount ($50.7 million) would be less than Sweden gives UNRWA by itself. Forget what a joke it is for oil-rich Arab states, who continuously claim that the plight of Palestinian Arabs is their most important issue, bragging about pledging a mere 7.8% of the core budget (and no promises for the emergency funds UNRWA regularly demands, such as currently in Syria.)

In fact, a glance at the 2013 budget shows that the members of the Arab League pledged not 7.8% of UNRWA's core budget this year - but 3.3%! (This document only shows government contributions, not individual NGOs and foundations.)

So even the inadequate 7.8% promise is an empty lie. And traditionally the Arab states have paid far less than what they pledged!

Everyone in the Arab world knows that none of them care about their Palestinian brethren, as this cartoon showed. . But this is hushed up when they talk to the West about how important the issue is to them.

The EU is funding illegal settlers! (Illegal Turkish settlers, that is.)

From Wikipedia:

The demographic character of Northern Cyprus changed after the Turkish invasion in 1974 and especially during the last 10–15 years. The TRNC census carried out in April 2006 showed that out of a total population of 256,644 in Northern Cyprus, 132,635, or 52%, were Turkish Cypriots in the sense that they were born in Cyprus of at least one Cyprus-born parent (for 120,007 of these both parents were Cyprus-born). In addition, 43,062 TRNC citizens (17%) had at least one non-Cypriot Turkish-born parent, 2,334 TRNC citizens (1%) had parents born in other countries, 70,525 residents (27%) had Turkish citizenship, and 8,088 (3%) were citizens of other countries (mainly UK, Bulgaria, and Iran). Based on these census data, it can be argued that 113,687 TRNC residents, or 44% of the population, are not Turkish Cypriots properly speaking, but are in fact "Turkish immigrants" or "Turkish settlers" from Anatolia. Alternative sources suggest that there are 146,122 Turkish settlers from Anatolia in TRNC (2007 figures) and that the Turkish Cypriots in Northern Cyprus are today outnumbered by the Turkish settlers, contrary to the picture presented by the 2006 TRNC census.

Almost one-third of the Turkish settlers in Northern Cyprus have been granted TRNC citizenship by the authorities of Northern Cyprus and have thus been naturalized. Settlement in Northern Cyprus, especially if accompanied by naturalization, is a violation to the Geneva Conventions Protocol of 1977, since the Turkish occupation has been declared illegal by the UN. The Republic of Cyprus government regards these Turkish immigrants as "illegal settlers" and does not include them in the population estimates for the entire island published by the Republic of Cyprus Statistical Service.[5]

So given that roughly half of the residents of northern Cyprus are illegal settlers, and the land is under illegal occupation by Turkey, certainly the EU would never consider investing in the illegal occupation, right?

Not really. Here is a glossy brochure from the EU that brags about all of the projects it is proudly sponsoring there:

Nowhere in this brochure, nor in the 2006 EU resolution to help the Turkish Cypriots, is any distincton made between the natives and the illegal settlers - all of them benefit equally from the EU programs to help the environment, co-existence, farming, education, infrastructure and so forth.

By any measure, the EU is funding the Turkish settlement enterprise.

Eugene Kontorovich describes the hypocrisy in a JPost op-ed (in yesterday's linkdump)

Under guidelines prepared earlier this summer, euros would not be allowed to go to Israeli entities located cross the Green Line – or to those that have any operations there. All Israeli entities applying for funding would have to submit a declaration that they do not have such operations.

Europe claims that such a move – unparalleled in its dealings with any other country – is mandated by international law. The EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories, and thus has an obligation to keep its money from going there. Those who celebrated the move said that Israel is finally paying the international price for its occupation.

Yet it turns out that despite the guidelines, the EU still knowingly and purposefully provides substantial direct financial assistance to settlements in occupied territory – in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, that is. So the EU funds the occupation of an EU member state. Turkey’s invasion and occupation of Cyprus in 1974 was condemned the UN Security Council, and the EU’s official policy is that the Turkish occupation is illegitimate, and Turkey must completely withdraw. The EU does not recognize the Turkish government in Northern Cyprus.

Nonetheless, the EU maintains an entire separate program to direct funds to Northern Cyprus.
...
Projects include study abroad scholarships for students at the numerous Northern Cyprus universities (imagine such funding for students at Ariel University!); developing and diversifying the private sector through grants to small and medium- sized businesses; various kinds of infrastructure improvements (telecom upgrades, traffic safety, waste disposal); community development grants, funding to upgrade “cultural heritage” sites, and so forth. They even put on a concert.

The program basically gives grants to the Turkish business and private entities, and builds the infrastructure of the occupying government. The EU is doing exactly what its claims, in the settlement guidelines, international law prohibits.

The relevant EU resolutions and reports make no mention of any international legal question about such funding.

There are real differences between the EU’s funding policies toward Turkey’s occupied territories and Israel’s territories: the former is a much starker contradiction of the principles the Europeans proclaim to uphold. The settlement guidelines aim to regulate groups based in Israel proper, and goes out of its way to make sure no money might be incidentally spent in the West Bank (or Golan or, oddly, Gaza). Yet the Northern Cyprus project is not simply an outgrowth of standing arrangements with Turkey or Cyprus, but rather a particular funding program that by definition funds 100% occupation activities.

Indeed, the EU maintains an office in Northern Cyprus to oversee its over “1000 grant contracts...to NGOs, SMEs, farmers, rural communities, schools and students,” according to an EU report.

This office liaises directly with the Turkish occupation regime in the territory.

Hmmmm. One standard for Israel, another for everyone else. Sounds very familiar.

"The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble" - and a sequel

By James Thurber, first published in The New Yorker on August 26, 1939:

Within the memory of the youngest child there was a family of rabbits who lived near a pack of wolves. The wolves announced that they did not like the way the rabbits were living. (The wolves were crazy about the way they themselves were living, because it was the only way to live.) One night several wolves were killed in an earthquake and this was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that rabbits pound on the ground with their hind legs and cause earthquakes. On another night one of the wolves was killed by a bolt of lightning and this was also blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that lettuce-eaters cause lightning. The wolves threatened to civilize the rabbits if they didn't behave, and the rabbits decided to run away to a desert island. But the other animals, who lived at a great distance, shamed them saying, "You must stay where you are and be brave. This is no world for escapists. If the wolves attack you, we will come to your aid in all probability." So the rabbits continued to live near the wolves and one day there was a terrible flood which drowned a great many wolves. This was blamed on the rabbits, for it is well known that carrot-nibblers with long ears cause floods. The wolves descended on the rabbits, for their own good, and imprisoned them in a dark cave, for their own protection.

When nothing was heard about the rabbits for some weeks, the other animals demanded to know what had happened to them. The wolves replied that the rabbits had been eaten and since they had been eaten the affair was a purely internal matter. But the other animals warned that they might possibly unite against the wolves unless some reason was given for the destruction of the rabbits. So the wolves gave them one. "They were trying to escape," said the wolves, "and, as you know, this is no world for escapists."

Moral: Run, don't walk, to the nearest desert island.

It may be time to write a sequel.

The Rabbits Still Cause All the Trouble

Despite the wolves' efforts, a small number of rabbits did manage to escape to join cousins of theirs on the edge of a desert peninsula, the very desert where the rabbits' ancestors originally came from. While there were a large number of hyenas inland, who would catch and eat a few rabbits now and then, the rabbits felt safer and at home on their patch of land. They could even - for the first time in many generations - band together to fight back against their enemies to keep their tiny homeland relatively safe.

The hyenas were alarmed, for rabbits had never stood up to them before. They used to be able to catch and eat rabbits easily, but now they had to contend with traps and snares that the rabbits invented. The Hyena League asked for advice from the foxes of the world as how to best deal with the rabbits, once and for all, since the foxes had so much experience.

The clever foxes knew that the other animals never really liked the rabbits much, even when they were being eaten by the foxes. Their sly plan was for the hyenas to convince the other animals, who lived at an even greater distance, that the rabbits were threatening them. By repeating the words "aggressive killer rabbits" and "poor defenseless hyenas" and "hyenas losing their land" over and over and over again, the other animals soon started to believe that the hyenas were being persecuted and the rabbits were murdering them in droves. (Some of the animals even believed that landslides in the hyena country were caused by rabbits, since it was well known that rabbits like to dig holes.)

Eventually many of the animal told the rabbits that if only they would give part of their homeland to the hyenas, then the hyenas would be happy and the fighting would end. The rabbits, who just wanted to be left alone, tried to take the animals' advice, but the hyenas started attacking the rabbits even more. As a result, the rabbits had to build more hyena traps. The hyenas cried to the Animal Union that the rabbits were oppressing them even more.

The Animal Union, which has a very short memory (and whose members were secretly afraid of the hyenas themselves,) believed the accusations, and demanded that the rabbits give up a little more of their land, and then some more, saying that surely the hyenas - being reasonable animals - would eventually be happy. The dismayed rabbits tried to argue that they were the prey and not the predators, but the Union said that the hyenas seemed very convincing in their desire for peace.

The story hasn't ended yet, but it still has a moral: Don't rely on others to defend your desert island.

(h/t Joel B)

#BDSFail in Brighton

From Sussex Friends of Israel:

Supporters of Israel came together today, to hold a Bagels Against Bigotry party outside Brighton’s environmentally friendly refill store Ecostream, to counter a planned day of action and demonstration by BDS, the anti Israel group Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

The bagel themed party started at 11.30am outside the Ecostream store on Western Road Brighton, with supporters offering home baked cakes and salmon filled bagels for passers-by to enjoy as they visited Ecostream.

According to the Police just 45 members of the anti-Israel ‘BDS’ group attended the event billed by them as a national day of action.

Within 20 minutes of their arrival the Police moved the protesters to the opposite side of the road, where their protests were not only drowned out by the passing traffic but also obscured by regular Brighton and Hove double decker buses.

This week the Ecostream store has reported its best ever week of sales since opening in Brighton last year. During the event today there was a constant flow of customers refilling their oils, vinegars and environmentally friendly detergents, stocking up with dry goods, as well as purchasing their brand new Sodastream machines.

Sussex Friends of Israel organiser Simon Cobbs said: “The turnout from supporters of Israel, from across the country today has been superb, we outnumbered the anti-Israeli groups by at least two to one, and at the same time we had a party. I want to thank everyone for their support today, it just shows what can be achieved when the community comes together to counter bigotry and eat bagels.