Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, October 14, 2013

10/14 Links Pt2: PA Benefits from Offshore Gas, Facebook buys Onavo for $200 Mil

From Ian:

The Diplomatic Bonus of Gaza's Offshore Natural Gas

Despite its location, the field belongs to the PA rather than the Hamas regime in Gaza. It was discovered by a British company, BG (formerly British Gas), which continues to hold the license. The PA, seeking a greater share of the revenues, is now negotiating a revised concession agreement with BG and another investor, Consolidated Contractors Company, a Palestinian-owned, Greek-based engineering group. Israeli acquiescence is needed for security reasons, since the gas lies in an area patrolled by the Israeli navy. Yet former prime minister Ehud Barak conceded ownership of the field to the Palestinians in 2001 as a goodwill gesture, adjusting the notional maritime boundary in the area so that the whole of Gaza Marine lies in Palestinian waters rather than crossing into Israel's Exclusive Economic Zone.

David Singer: World Bank Exposes PLO’s Disastrous Miscalculations

Regrettably those affected by the PLO’s political stance – the West Bank Arab population – are denied any say in determining whether changes need to take place that would improve their economic and political fortunes.
PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas refuses to hold elections in the West Bank – preferring to continue with failed policies that threaten the future aspirations of the people he claims to represent – so clearly exposed in this damning World Bank Report.
Abbas continues to travel the world’s capitols unsuccessfully seeking financial support whilst an ailing economy collapses before his very eyes – as the World Bank Report makes ominously clear:

Bedouin Myth No.1 – Indigenous?

Professor Ruth Kark of the Geography Department of the Hebrew University, considered an expert on conceptions of land ownership in traditional and pre-modern cultures, in an article that appeared in the “Middle East Quarterly,” enumerated the generally accepted parameters of the term “indigenous,” and explains why the Bedouins cannot be included in this category. Here is the synopsis of her conclusions.

The EU’s misguided singling out of Israel

Instead of being one-sided in their criticism, the EU should redouble its efforts to promote economic development in the West Bank as opposed to taking punitive steps against one side. Perversely, a ban such as this would hurt struggling Palestinians more than it would hurt Israel.
Economic progress on both sides will do more to bring about the kind of solution the EU so wants. A true peace will only be decided in bilateral peace talks that both sides buy into.

Not accurate, not impartial: BBC report on murder in Brosh HaBika’a

Towards the end of the report we find a paragraph which is phrased in such a way as to imply to readers that there is reason to question Israeli definitions of terror attacks – including the murder of Tomer Hazan, which the perpetrator admitted was intended to extort the release of a relative imprisoned for terror offences.

“The dead man is the third Israeli to be killed in what Israel characterises as “terror attacks” in the last month in the West Bank. Two serving soldiers have also died.”

BBC template response to audience complaints about Psagot

Several readers have informed us of responses they have received from the BBC in reply to complaints regarding the fact that the attack in Psagot on October 5th did not receive any coverage from the BBC until four days after the event when two suspects were arrested in Al Bireh.
All those readers received the exact same reply from the BBC News website’s Middle East desk, the body of which reads:

The paper which hates Britain? Guardian leaks ‘worst blow to British intel ever’

The Guardian’s editor Alan Rusbridger, typifying the vitriol directed against the West by many within the leftist intelligentsia, in defending his paper’s right to publish classified documents, referred to George Orwell’s book ’1984' and argued that US and British intelligence gathering went “beyond Orwell’s imagination”. However, Orwell understood the advantages of even flawed democracies over totalitarian regimes and realized the danger of an intellectual elite which doesn’t understand such stark moral differences.
In 1945, Orwell published “Notes on Nationalism” which argued that within the leftist intelligentsia there is “a derisive and mildly hostile attitude towards Britain [that] is more or less compulsory”, and that that, to such intellectuals, political outrage is inevitably directed not towards truly totalitarian regimes, but “almost entirely against Britain and the United States.”

Al-Hiwar TV: Islamists' Loudspeaker in Europe

The Muslim Brotherhood, despite having officially renounced violence, has been known for inciting often-violent political and social instability; it also openly claims responsibility for the installation of Hamas, a terrorist organization committed by its charter to the destruction of Israel.
Ofcom, in 2009, found Al-Hiwar in breach of British broadcasting regulations after the Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood leader, Rachid al-Ghannouchi, used the channel to praise Hamas's military operations and "the use of bombs." In explaining its decision, Ofcom said Al-Hiwar's fault was to be guilty of "not challenging" Al-Ghnnouchi's statement. Al-Ghannouchi nonetheless remained a regular guest on Al-Hiwar TV, delivering his messages to millions of viewers.

Holocaust-denying Romanian minister attends memorial

Dan Sova, Romania’s minister for national projects and infrastructure, addressed a crowd of dignitaries on October 9 in the Romanian capital at a ceremony held on Romania’s national Holocaust Memorial Day — a date marked officially for the third time since its introduction in 2010.
Earlier this year, Sova apologized for statements he made during a 2012 television interview in which he said that “no Jew suffered at the hands of Romanians” during the Holocaust.

Clinton Foundation Received Millions from Saudis, Qatar, Iran

A senior Muslim Brotherhood operative recently arrested in Egypt worked for years at the William J. Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation has also received millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a foundation that is an Iranian regime front.
The current Egyptian government, which was put in power after the military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood, has launched a sweeping crackdown on the Brotherhood and calls it a terrorist organization. One of the senior officials arrested is Gehad (Jihad) el-Haddad.
From 2007 to 2012, el-Haddad was the Egyptian director for the Clinton Foundation. El-Haddad’s father is Essam el-Haddad, a member of the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau.

Czech President: My Kotel Wish Came True

Zeman placed a new note with a new wish on it in the cracks between the stones on Sunday's visit as well.
"I am excited to stand here in front of the holy stones, this exalted place of worship, with the prayer books that accompany the Jewish people everywhere in the world. Here and in Prague, people pray from the same prayerbook,” he noted.

Does Nobel winner Higgs support an Israel boycott?

“It is very ironic that Israeli scientists are dominating the Nobel prizes yet again, and the British winner of the Nobel prize is, in effect, boycotting them,” Middle East commentator Tom Gross said, after writing on his site last Wednesday that Higgs “is calling for an academic boycott of Israel.”
But how much evidence is there to support the charge?
The most substantive allegation revolves around an Israeli prize Higgs refused to accept.

Facebook buys Onavo

Israeli mobile analytics company Onavo has announced its sale to Facebook. The deal is being reported to be worth between $100 million-$200 million.
Onavo is one of Tel Aviv’s hottest startups. It developed the award-winning Onavo mobile utility app and Onavo Insights, the first mobile market intelligence service based on real engagement data.

Security control room in a smartphone

When a baby is choking somewhere inside the winding cobblestoned streets of Jerusalem’s Old City, or in any Israeli neighborhood, locals powering motorcycles with ambulance gear give help before the paramedics arrive. This is thanks to Israel’s one-of-a-kind volunteer emergency response organization United Hatzalah.
To maximize response time, Hatzalah contracted local developers to create a smartphone app to help deploy volunteers closest to the emergency –– or to send mission alerts to doctors with certain specialties.

70 years after revolt, Sobibor secrets are yet to be unearthed

It was the most successful prisoner revolt during World War II, but the Sobibor uprising never became a primary symbol of the Holocaust. Seventy years later, archeologists at the former death camp are rewriting what’s known about Sobibor’s design, and unearthing haunting glimpses of its Jewish victims.
Their work, however, is now in jeopardy, as bureaucratic tensions and a stymied struggle on the part of the lead Israeli archeologist Yoram Haimi to protect the site’s integrity have delayed authorization from Polish authorities to open a new excavation season at Sobibor.

Ingathering and digitizing the Diaspora’s rare Hebrew books

In a project as ambitious as the Great Library of Alexandria — which, starting in the 3rd century BCE under the Ptolemies, endeavored to copy all scrolls that entered the port — Israel’s National Library is seeking to digitize and store all of the world’s Jewish texts.
Last week, the National Library, located on the campus of the Hebrew University at Givat Ram, Jerusalem, took a major step forward in this quest by reaching an agreement to produce high-definition images of one of the world’s premier collections of Judaic manuscripts. The National Library and Italy’s Biblioteca Palatina in Parma signed a deal to convert centuries of parchment and paper Hebrew documents to high-quality digital files which will be available to Israeli scholars. A selection of those files will be uploaded to the Internet for general access.

IDF Blog: 40 Years Since the Yom Kippur War No.2: The Counterattack

After a surprise attack that sparks the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the IDF must regroup and act quickly against Egypt and Syria. The enemies’ anti-aircraft missiles overwhelm the Israel Air Force, forcing the IDF to rely almost completely on its ground and naval forces. The proximity of Israeli villages and towns to the Syrian border poses an urgent challenge, pushing the IDF to confront enemy forces in battle.

Gazans tell of life under siege. Egyptian siege.

From Ma'ariv, translated by Yoel:

The crisis between Hamas and the new regime in Egypt is worsening: in Egypt there is no intention in the mean time to scale down on the military operation in Sinai, which started after the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood regime. The Egyptians accuse Hamas of collaborating with jihadi elements operating in the peninsula, and the foreign minister, Nabil Fahmy, declared that if the need arises the Egyptian army will use military force against the Gaza Strip. Military sources even said that a target list for Gaza was drawn up to allow an aerial attack.

After years of an Israeli siege, in the last weeks the residents of Gaza are dealing with an Egyptian siege due to the wide-scale military operation against terror infrastructures in Sinai and against the smuggling between Gaza to the peninsula.

"The reality we were used to has changed completely. Life was always hard, but now it is almost unbearable", one resident said.

The Egyptian activity is mostly focused on the smuggling between the strip and the Sinai peninsula, which is part of the struggle against the Hamas movement. According to reports, 95% of the tunnels are not functioning today. "The smuggling has almost completely stopped and the prices of the products that go through the tunnels have skyrocketed", says Hamdan Abdallah, a resident of the Gazan part of Rafah, in a conversation with NRG. He told me a liter of fuel costs more than seven shekels today, as apposed to three shekels before the military operation. [That's the price Israelis pay. - EoZ]

Abdallah even has some good words for Israel. "For years we were complaining about the Israeli siege of Gaza, but now it is the only one which lets in food and fuel through the Kerem Shalom crossing", he said. "Egypt has almost completely closed the Rafah crossing, which used to be the life line for the residents here. It's a one-way door. You can only enter Gaza. Exiting it is very difficult, it's almost an impossible mission".

A Rafah resident who preferred to stay anonymous said he couldn't understand why the residents of the strip of all people had to pay the price for the actions of radical groups. "The Egyptian security forces are dealing with armed groups in Sinai, and they also blame Hamas for collaborating with them. This may be true, but the question is why do we the residents have to pay the price. But that's the way it is, we've gotten used to it - when there are troubles in the world it's the Palestinians who are responsible for them, and it's they who are punished", he said sadly.

Too bad Ma'ariv didn't get a chance to ask the Gazans what they thought of their government building tunnels to kidnap Israelis instead of houses and apartments.

Bolonium

Over the weekend, the Lancet published an article called "Improving forensic investigation for polonium poisoning" which is being misrepresented by the media, especially Arab media.

AFP reports:

Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of polonium on clothing used by Yasser Arafat which "support the possibility" the veteran Palestinian leader was poisoned.

In a report published by The Lancet at the weekend, the team provide scientific details to media statements made in 2012 that they had found polonium on Arafat's belongings.

This is not the results of the tests done on exhumed samples from Arafat. This is simply a regurgitation of what the Swiss researchers said last year, just published in a new place.

The very end of the AFP report confirms this:

Beatrice Schaad, head of communications at the Vaudois University Hospital Center which is in charge of the institute, said the case report was the "scientific version" of what was given to the media.

"There is nothing new compared with what was said" in 2012, she told AFP. "There is still no conclusion that he was poisoned."

For those who cared, the specific results were published last year as well. And the numbers still don't add up.

The current Lancet article says:

According to biokinetic modelling (see appendix), the measured activities of ²¹⁰Po of several mBq per sample are compatible with a lethal ingestion of several GBq in 2004.

As I noted last year, Arafat's underwear urine stains were measured to have an astounding 180 mBq, over one hundred times the expected amount one would have expected to see in 2012, based on radioactive decay, of a dosage of polonium that would kill a man in a month.

Again, not that I am a fan of conspiracy theories, but these results would make sense only if the polonium was planted afterwards.

And, as I have noted, there were major irregularities when Arafat's body was exhumed, in that the PLO insisted that Russians be involved in the exhumation, and that only a Palestinian Arab pathologist was allowed to physically take the samples, with no one else observing him. If someone wanted to get advice on how to plant polonium on the samples - as well as polonium itself - Russia would the first choice.

Maybe this is why the investigation has been taking so long. If the polonium was planted, the researchers would probably be seeing results that are inconsistent or that otherwise don't make sense.

10/14 Links Pt1: IDF Watching Tunnel For A Year, PA Celebrates Terrorist Murderer of French Tourist

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: How Jerusalem's Arabs Act Against Their Own Interests

Today, many Arabs in Jerusalem are not afraid to declare openly that they prefer to live under Israeli rule, and not under that of the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. The problem remains, however, that the overwhelming majority is still afraid of the radicals.
What is needed is a strong Arab leadership that would not hesitate to stand up to the radicals and question their goals. Such a leadership would have to make it clear that there should be a complete separation between the political issues and the day-to-day affairs of Jerusalem's Arab population.
Until such leaders emerge, the Arabs in Jerusalem will, by boycotting the municipal elections, unfortunately continue to act against their own interests.

A new type of settlement

Privately Palestinian leaders in Mr Abbas’s orbit have toyed with admitting that, even if there is a deal with Israel, the refugees and their offspring will never return en masse to their old homes in Israel. With only 60,000 alive (8% of those who fled in 1948), there may soon be almost none left for the Israelis to allow home.
But leaving them put will do nothing to lessen the trouble they cause. Almost 70% of West Bank refugees already live outside camps. The refugee department of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, an umbrella group, is hoping Western countries will pay for decent new housing elsewhere. “We should settle the hills above Nablus with [Palestinian] refugees, not [Jewish] settlers,” says Said Salameh, the department’s head. A UN “beautification project”, installing swimming pools in Roman ruins and demolishing houses to create town squares, has raised spirits in some of the West Bank’s southern camps. So has a Qatari-funded housing project for refugees in Bethlehem. After 65 years of squalor, almost any new homes would be better.

Palestinian Suspects Admit to Brutal Murder of IDF Reserve Colonel

The Shin Bet, Israel’s security service, has arrested two Arabs for the murder of IDF Col. (res.) Sraya Ofer. The attack occurred in the Jordan Valley early this past Friday morning.
The two men, Uda Farid Taleb, aged 18, and Bashir Ahmed Uda Haruv, aged 21, both from a village near Hebron, admitted they committed the murder, and implicated others during the investigation.

Netanyahu to Cabinet: ‘We Have Witnessed an Increase in Terrorist Actions in Recent Weeks’

Addressing the discovery of a tunnel running from the Gaza Strip into Israel, the existence of which the IDF laid blame for on Hamas, Netanyahu said “an aggressive policy against terrorism, including preventive action, intelligence, initiated action, responsive action and, of course, Operation Pillar of Defense” has “led to the fact that this year has been the quietest in over a decade.”
“However,” he continued, “we have witnessed an increase in terrorist actions in recent weeks.”

PA celebrates release of terrorist who killed French tourist

Khaled Asakra was one of the 26 prisoners who were released in the first group. Asakra was serving a life sentence for the murder of a 64 year-old French tourist, Annie Ley, whom he stabbed and killed in 1991.
PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake visited terrorist Asakra upon his release and presented him with an honorary plaque, which bears the PA symbol.
The day after the release of the terrorist who murdered a French citizen, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius signed an agreement with PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah granting a total of "24 million Euros" in aid from France to the PA. "€9,000,000 are direct aid to the Palestinian treasury," the official PA daily reported.

Former PA PM rejects Jewish gold medallion discovered near Western Wall

An underground walk toward Gaza

Edelstein revealed that the IDF had spotted the tunnel from the very beginning of its creation and that through a process requiring “the sort of determination I wish I could detail,” had charted its path and exposed it.
Calling the terrorists’ plans “ingenious,” Edelstein said that Hamas had used 500 tons of Israeli-supplied cement to build the tunnel, that there were others like it, and that their construction, crossing into Israeli territory, constituted “an extreme violation of the ceasefire,” which, he contended, Hamas had requested after Operation Pillar of Defense in November.

It keeps tunneling, but Hamas doesn’t want escalation… yet

Yet make no mistake: Hamas has no interest in initiating a confrontation with Israel. Not right now, that is. On Sunday evening, Hamas’s Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh hinted that the Strip’s Islamist rulers are not interested in escalation. In a speech to the graduates of a Gaza police officers’ course, Haniyeh said his forces are also concerned about Egypt’s security, and will guard the border with Sinai. The Hamas prime minister knows that the unequivocal Egyptian demand from his organization and from Haniyeh himself is to avoid any military conflict with Israel, otherwise the Egyptians themselves will act against Hamas.
Still, it is not clear how long Hamas will continue to maintain the quiet against Israel.

IDF blames Hamas for ‘terror tunnel’ from Gaza to Israel

Maj. Gen. Shlomo Turgeman, the Southern Command head, said the tunnel, “a violation of our sovereignty,” had been built using around 500 tons of cement that “Israel allowed in [to Gaza] for civilian well-being.” He warned that if Hamas used such a tunnel to carry out a terror attack against Israel, the Israeli response would “leave Gaza looking very different.”
The tunnel, which began in Abbasan al-Saghira, a farming village near Khan Yunis, was described by officials as being 18 meters deep and 1,700 meters long. Officials estimate it took around a year to construct.

Hamas: Israel Trying to 'Justify the Blockade'

Hamas accused Israel on Sunday of "exaggerating things", after it was made public that IDF soldiers recently discovered a tunnel, built by Gaza terrorists, that led from Gaza to a nearby Israeli community. The 20-meter deep tunnel was lined with the concrete slabs that Israel, giving in to international pressure, had allowed into Gaza to enable the building of schools and other civilian structures.
By talking about the discovery of a tunnel, Israel was "trying to justify the blockade and the continuous aggression on the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, according to the BBC.

Assad: Loss of chemical weapons is blow to Syria's morale, political standing

Syrian President Bashar Assad told a number of guests gathered in his palace in Damascus recently that his country’s loss of chemical weapons resulted in a blow to its morale and political position.
“There is no doubt that the loss of chemical weapons has resulted in a loss of morale and a political loss for Syria. Since 2003, Syria has demanded that the countries in the region dismantle their WMDs, and the chemical weapons were meant to be a bargaining chip in Syria’s hands in exchange for Israel dismantling its nuclear arsenal,” Lebanese Hezbollah identified newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Monday Assad as saying.

Key Syrian Rebel Group Turns Down Peace Talks

Syrian National Council says it won't attend peace talks in Geneva because the world has "left the murderer unpunished."

Red Cross workers kidnapped in Syria

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Damascus said seven of the group’s workers were kidnapped in northern Syria.
Saleh Dabbakeh said gunmen abducted the team near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province around 11:30 a.m. Sunday.
He said six of the people kidnapped are ICRC staff workers and one is a volunteer from the Syrian Red Crescent.

Palestinians in Syria 'Eating Cats and Dogs'

In his Friday sermon, an imam at the Palestinian Al-Yarmouk camp south of Damascus gave local residents permission to eat dead cats and dogs. The camp has been under siege for three months, the humanitarian situation there has severely deteriorated and the supply of food has not been steady, reports Shalom Toronto.

50 Syria Militants Could Return to Wage Jihad in UK, Claims Intelligence Source

Up to 50 British jihadists may have returned to the UK to plan terrorist attacks, after receiving weapons training and combat experience in the Syrian civil war.
A security source told the Sunday Times that MI5 was tracking a number of individuals who are believed to have fought for al-Qaida-linked jihadist groups against the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
"Extremists go there and come back enthused and with added skills. Others go there and make contacts which they otherwise may not have made," said the source.

JPost Editorial: Unity against Iran

How will the P5+1 react? Inevitably, pressure will build to compromise with the Iranians. Arguments will be made in favor of accepting Iran’s proposals and counterarguments will be made against. In the process, a real danger exists that the coalition organized against Iran’s nuclear weapons program will fall apart.
That must not be allowed to happen. Western nations must stay united against Iran’s push for nuclear weapons capability.
Sanctions are close to achieving the desired result of forcing Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program peacefully. They must be allowed to run their course. And a new round of sanctions should be prepared now, in case Iran offers less than the minimum required to set the Islamic Republic on the path to a full dismantling of its nuclear weapons program.

Iranian sentenced in Azerbaijan for plot on Israeli Embassy

An Iranian citizen was sentenced to 15 years in jail in Azerbaijan for planning an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Baku.
Bahram Feyzi, who was arrested in March and accused of being an Iranian spy along with drug possession, was sentenced on Friday in the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, the French news agency AFP reported.

Morsi’s family says he will not compromise with military

“The president will not retreat, or negotiate or accept compromises especially after all the martyrs, the wounded, the arrested and missing,” his family said in a statement, published on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website.
“No matter how much they try to keep him away, the president will not retreat from a return to the democratic path, even if his soul is the price of this democratic path,” the family said in the statement.

US citizen found dead in Egyptian cell

An American imprisoned in Egypt was found hanged in his cell Sunday in the city of Ismailiya. Egyptian officials believe that James Henry, 55, committed suicide, AFP reported. His body was found by authorities at noon.
Henry had been detained for violating a curfew in the northern Sinai Peninsula, on the road to the city of Rafah from el-Arish. The curfew, enforced in 14 governorates, was in place nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Henry told Egyptian security forces at the time of his arrest that he was headed to the Gaza Strip.

Egypt detains 14 for “homosexual acts” at medical centre

An Egyptian prosecutor ordered on Saturday that fourteen suspects be detained for four days pending investigations into allegations that they committed “homosexual acts” inside a medical centre in the neighborhood of al-Marg in Cairo.

50 years ago: Arabs emphatically reject peace. (Sound familiar?)

From the JTA Archives, fifty years ago.

September 30, 1963:

Rejection of any Israeli call for direct peace talks is a key aspect of unified instructions by Arab governments to their delegations to the current General Assembly of the United Nations, according to a report today in the Jordanian daily newspaper, El Jihad.

Quoting a “high government source,” the newspaper said that the governments have instructed their delegations to make “extraordinary efforts” to foil “Zionist and imperialist” plans so “sidestep” the Palestine issue at the Assembly.

Among the other instructions to the Arab delegations are orders to make an effort to change the attitudes of the United States, Britain and France, and to persuade France to adopt a pro-Arab stand. El Jihad reported that King Hussein launched such an effort in his recent talks with French President Charles de Gaulle.

Also September 30:

The first full-scale attack against Israel in this year’s General Assembly was voiced at a plenary session of the body this morning by Abdul Monem Rifai of Jordan. Previously, Israel had been attacked on charges of “Zionist colonialism” by the diplomatic spokesmen of Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, but Mr. Rifai devoted a very large section of his address at the Assembly to what he called “the aggression in Palestine.”

His intervention ran the gamut from the customary Arab characterization of Israel as “a foreign authority in an Arab environment illegally founded” to the Arab refugee question to a charge that Israel’s efforts to divert the Jordan River waters would “endanger peace in our area.”

“While the Arabs yearn for the restoration of peace in the Holy Land, we must point out that a situation in which wrong was legalized and aggression tolerated is a situation which does not provide a suitable atmosphere for peace.”

Meaning, that as long as there is a Jewish state, there is no "justice" and peace is impossible. Which is pretty much the same attitude as today, although it is hidden a bit better.

Keep in mind that the charges of "colonialism" and "aggression" are being made before 1967.

October 9:

Saudi Arabia today rejected Israel’s calls for peace between Israel and the Arab states. Rashad Pharaon, the new Saudi Arabian representative, replacing Ahmad Shukairy who was dismissed from his UN post by the Saudi Arabian Government a year ago, addressed the plenary session of the General Assembly. [Shukairy, of course, became head of the PLO soon afterwards. - EoZ]

He said that, while the Israel Government has called for peace, “Israel has shown no indication of any intention to abide by the resolutions of the United Nations and recognize the rights of the people of Palestine. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the Palestine problem is solved in accordance with the principles of law and justice.”

Salah El-Dine Tarazi, Syria’s permanent representative, addressing the Assembly yesterday, asserted that the solution of the “Palestine problem” is no longer a matter of “Arab-Israeli relations” but an issue concerning the “Arab people of Palestine.” It is up to the Arab people of Palestine, he said, to settle the issue. Declaring that the Arab people “had never bowed to the injustice committed against it” by what he called “Zionist imperialism,” he said: “No Arab government could allow a status quo based on injustice.”

Notice that no one calls anyone "Palestinians." 15 years after Israel was reborn, the word "Palestinian" was still highly associated with Jews, so the Arab countries referred to "Arabs of Palestine."

More history from October 1963 coming tomorrow, as we explore how Israel engaged in "X-washing" even before there was any "occupation."

Stunning photos of the Hamas terror tunnel, plus video

From Buzzfeed:

Hamas military spokesman in Gaza, Abu Obeida, said on his official Twitter account that “thousands” more tunnels would be dug out.

Ventilation shaft

The IDF estimated over 500 tons of concrete were used to build this.

Israel has now suspended shipping construction materials to Gaza.

You can be sure that "human rights" organizations will be condemning that ban on concrete far more than the Hamas attempt to kidnap Israelis.

Here's video:

(h/t Yoel)

A legal scholar details ICRC bias against Israel over "occupation" of Gaza

Last week I wrote a post about how the International Committee of the Red Cross was, in my opinion, hypocritical for ignoring the opinions of experts it gathered to discuss the definition of "occupation" and choosing instead to consider Gaza to still be occupied, against all normative legal opinions.

I received two responses from Juan-Pedro Schaerer, ICRC Head of Delegation, Israel and the Occupied Territories, in the comments. The first one:

While this article provides a summary of an important expert's workshop, the author ignores essential facts used by the ICRC when applying of the Law of Occupation to Gaza.

The ICRC closely monitors developments in the Gaza Strip, since facts on the ground are crucial to determining whether the elements of effective control required for occupation continue to be met. While it cannot be said that the Gaza Strip is a "classic" situation of occupation, Israel has not entirely relinquished its effective control over the Strip. This control includes amongst other the almost total control over the borders of the Gaza Strip (except for the border with Egypt), the control over the airspace and the entire coast line, the control over who can move out of the Gaza Strip, the control of the population register, control over all the items that can be imported and exported from the Strip and the control over a no-go zone along the Gaza fence inside the Gaza Strip. These facts and others allow ICRC to determine that Israel exercises effective control and therefore remains bound by the law of occupation in the case of Gaza.

This article ignores such essential facts and concludes in a facile way that the ICRC is hypocritical, biased and politically-motivated. The ICRC has no doubt that much of the hardship caused to the 1.7 million people living in Gaza would be reduced if international humanitarian law was fully understood and respected. ICRC works in a neutral and impartial way to promote a better understanding of international humanitarian law, and to alleviate the suffering caused by those who fail to respect it.

Schaerer Juan Pedro
ICRC Head of Delegation Israel and the Occupied Territories

And a second one, after I commented:

In response to your comments and for the purpose of clarification, I wish to emphasize that the ICRC does not maintain that Israel has retained all elements of authority and governmental functions in Gaza. Rather, our position is that even after the withdrawal of its forces in 2005 Israel continues to exercise effective control over certain key elements of authority in Gaza and therefore remains bound by obligations under the law of occupation within the territorial and functional limits of the competences it has retained. This reflects a functional approach to the law of occupation that emanates from the underlying purpose and rationale of that body of law. In simplified terms it means that to the extent that an occupying power retains control of key functions and authorities in the occupied territory it also remains bound by the relevant provisions of the law of occupation. Where there is control there is responsibility. For an elaboration on this see T. Ferraro, Determining the beginning and end of an occupation under international humanitarian law, 94 IRRC 133, 159 (aviliable online here:)

Professor Abraham (Avi) Bell, of the University of San Diego School of Law and at Bar-Ilan University, an expert on international law who has written extensively on this very issue, graciously offered to comment on Schaerer's responses. His answer is much better than the one I planned to write. (Emphasis mine.)

The argument first used by Mr. Schaerer was taken near verbatim from one invented by Gisha, a political pro-Palestinian NGO. It is not an argument that has any basis in general international law.

Mr. Schaerer’s argument consisted of a list of factual assertions, some of which are obviously correct but irrelevant (yes, Israel controls Israel’s own land borders with Gaza), and some of which are obviously both false and irrelevant (no, Israel does not “control … all the items that can be imported and exported from the Strip” – Gaza imports and exports goods through its land borders with Egypt).

None of the factual assertions relate to the generally understood legal criteria for effective control as understood in international law, as ICRC officials would readily acknowledge if Israel were not in the dock.

Is there any other case in recorded history where the “facts” offered by Mr. Schaerer have been interpreted as sufficient “effective control” to create a belligerent occupation notwithstanding the absence of (1) boots on the ground and (2) any administration by the purported “occupier”?

The answer, of course, is no.

It is curious that Mr. Schaerer didn’t even try to analyze how the generally applicable test for belligerent occupation would apply to Israel and Gaza. Instead, he said that a set of irrelevant facts “allow ICRC to determine that Israel exercises effective control.” Well, sure. ICRC is “allowed” to make any determination it wants. It is “allowed” to determine Spain occupies Portugal, if it wants.

Mr. Schaerer’s “clarification” is even more mystifying. He appears to be saying that the ICRC acknowledges that Gaza is not occupied by Israel, but that the ICRC claims that Israel can still be bound by some of the rules of belligerent occupation due to legally insufficient effective control. This is a novel theory that was advanced by Gisha after its earlier arguments that Israel “occupies” Gaza found no support among legal scholars not pre-committed to the Palestinian side. Needless to say, Gisha’s new theory has no basis in the text of any treaties, and it has never been applied against any other country in recorded history. In other words, it is a brand-new anti-Israel theory aimed to create legal duties that restrict the conduct of the Jewish state, but not of any other state in the world.

There are several additional oddities in Mr. Schaerer’s clarification. First, it is a lie. The ICRC continues to treat Gaza as belligerently occupied territory (see, e.g., here.) I cannot find a single public statement of the ICRC that acknowledges that Gaza is not actually belligerently occupied by Israel, but rather that Israel is bound by some laws of occupation under the “functional” theory even though Gaza is not occupied. Even Mr. Schaerer’s fails to acknowledge this openly in his “clarification.” Instead, Schaerer’s characterizes the ICRC position in a disingenuous manner. Schaerer claims that the ICRC restricts itself to asserting that “Israel ... remains bound by obligations under the law of occupation within the territorial and functional limits of the competences it has retained.” This is, of course, a flat-out lie. The ICRC continues to assert that Israel is bound by the law of occupation well beyond any “functional limits of the competences [Israel] has retained.” For instance, the ICRC continues to blame Israel for the failures of Hamas’ health care system in Gaza, the lack of variety of goods exported from Egypt to Gaza, and numerous other “competences” that have nothing to do with Israel.

Second, not only does Mr. Schaerer refuse to acknowledge the nature of the new theory he is advancing, he pretends that it is existing and well-known international law. The disingenuousness of Mr. Schaerer’s claims on this score can be seen by looking at his citation of an article by an ICRC advisor that Mr. Schaerer claims supports the bizarre anti-Israel theory used by the ICRC. The article is written by a senior legal advisor at the ICRC, so it naturally attempts to support the ICRC’s position. But ironically, the article does little more than show just how baseless the ICRC’s anti-Israel position is. Mr. Schaerer claims the article shows that "[w]here there is control there is responsibility" and Israel has "control" according to the ICRC, and it must therefore have responsibility. But the article actually says quite the opposite. According to the article, the general understanding of international law when not distorted to attack the Jewish state is that a state only has control if three ingredients are present at the same time: (1) the armed forces of the occupying state are physically present in a foreign territory without the consent of the local government; (2) the effective local government has been or can be rendered substantially incapable of exerting its powers by virtue of the foreign forces’ unconsented-to presence; and (3) the foreign forces are in a position to exercise authority over the territory concerned (or parts thereof) in lieu of the local government. As it happens, exactly ZERO of these ingredients are present in Gaza. In other words, the article cited as authoritative by Schaerer shows just the opposite of what he claims.

Of course, the article is produced by an ICRC lackey, and it attempts to fabricate a new legal theory that can justify the ICRC’s position against the Jewish state. Thus the article offers for unnamed “specific and exceptional cases” the “functional theory” that Mr. Schaerer uses to try to impose legal duties on Israel to support Hamas’s rule in Gaza. But the article does not even try to claim that there has ever been such a specific and exceptional case in recorded history. In fact, the article introduces its discussion of the “functional theory” by contrasting it with existing law, making it clear that even the article’s author cannot seriously claim that the ICRC’s anti-Israel position reflects international law as it currently stands. Instead, the article offers the “functional theory” as an innovation for which the article cites not a single legal authority nor any legal precedent.

However, I should acknowledge that Mr. Schaerer is right in saying that it is “facile” to accuse the ICRC of hypocrisy. We do not have any clear evidence of the ICRC officials’ motivation in distorting legal standards to create a uniquely harsh anti-Israel standard. The only things that can be clearly demonstrated are that the ICRC is using a harsher standard against Jewish state than it has used against any other country in recorded history, that its anti-Israel standard has no basis in international law as it is currently understood and applied, and that ICRC employees advocate the ICRC’s anti-Israel position by means of falsehoods and disingenuous argumentation. Until an ICRC employee is willing to be more forthcoming, the reasons for the ICRC’s bias against the world’s only Jewish state will remain a mystery.

Anti-Israel stamps from Syria

Latest in a series...

1960: This picture was in a number of Arab stamps. It shows refugees pointing to the area of British Mandate Palestine. Note that Syria always included the West Bank, even though Jordan annexed it; Syria and most Arab countries never recognized that.

1961: What better way to say that Palestine is Arab than to show an Arab?

1965: This same picture was in a number of Arab League country stamps. It is supposed to commemorate the Deir Yassin "massacre."

1965: commemorating "Palestine Week." In this case, the flags are all in pre-1967 Israel.

1968: "Palestine Day," with a torch, right after Syria's defeat in 1967.

1970: The first anniversary of the fire at the Al Aqsa mosque, blamed on Israel.

1973: 25th anniversary of Israel's rebirth. Well, something like that.

1982: This is one of my favorite stamps, both because it has two misspellings and because it has the oxymoronic characterization of the peace dove and the sub-machine gun, with an Israel-shaped keffiyeh for good measure. . For some reason many Westerners just see the dove.

1986: The multiculturalism in having all races want to destroy Israel is a nice touch.

1987: Continuing on the keffiyeh theme. The UN was sponsoring the annual Palestine Solidarity Day (on the anniversary of the 1947 partition plan) so the UN logo is quite appropriate here.

1989: Second anniversary of the "first" intifada. Unlike other cases of supposed Palestinian Arab child art, this looks like it might have actually been drawn by a child.

2001: Celebrating the second intifada. No suicide bombings celebrated in Syrian stamps, alas.

Israeli firm will design helmet for F-35 pilots

The best part about this story is that it is being reported by Hezbollah's organ Al Manar:

An Zionist company has been selected to take part in manufacturing hi-tech helmets for pilots of the US F-35 stealth fighter, Zionist Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Sunday.

He said in a statement that Elbit Systems and its US partner Rockwell Collins have been chosen by the Pentagon and F35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin to supply helmets for the next generation of the Joint Strike Fighter, the hi-tech warplane that is supposed to serve as the backbone of future American air power.

Elbit Systems designed the helmet for the fighter.

"The new helmet, which is to be manufactured in the United States, is capable of putting flight data as well as data about weapons systems and intelligence before the pilot's eyes," it said, adding that it would be delivered as standard with every F-35 purchased around the world from 2016.

Al Manar is actually overstating Israel's case a bit; the helmet is a joint venture between Elbit and Rockwell Collins. But it sounds like an amazing technical achievement:

Lockheed said the move amounted to a vote of confidence in the main helmet and efforts to
resolve earlier problems. "To date, more than 100 F-35 pilots have flown more than 6,000 flights and 10,000 hours with the helmet, and their feedback has been very positive," said Lorraine Martin, Lockheed executive vice president and F-35 general manager.

...The Gen 3 helmet will include an improved night vision camera, new liquid-crystal displays, automated alignment and software improvements. The Gen 3 helmet to be introduced to the fleet in low rate initial production Lot 7 in 2016 will meet program requirements to complete test and development in 2017. Rockwell Collins ESA Vision Systems LLC also developed the Gen 2 helmet that F-35 pilots currently use, which will meet the needs for the US Marine Corps to declare Initial Operational Capability in July 2015.

The F-35 HMDS provides pilots with unprecedented situational awareness. All the information that pilots need to complete their missions through all weather, day or night is projected on the helmet’s visor. Additionally, the F-35’s Distributed Aperture System (DAS) streams real-time imagery from six infrared cameras mounted around the aircraft to the helmet, allowing pilots to “look through” the airframe.

10/13 Links: UNESCO Bias, Has Islamism Peaked?, Tarantino Loves Israeli Film “Big Bad Wolves.”

From Ian:

In the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood is in retreat

Whether or not it turns out that the reports regarding Mashaal’s relocation are true, Hamas is being forced to reposition itself, and to go back to Iran with cap in hand. The reason is because this movement, too, had placed its bets on a Qatar-financed alliance of Brotherhood-oriented states – which will now not come into being.
The Brothers are by no means finished. Their politics retain a natural purchase in the conservative, Sunni Arab Middle East. But the moment when everything seemed possible has decidedly passed. What looked like the potential beginning of a new age ended up as a brief moment in the sun.
The sun is now setting on the Muslim Brotherhood’s hopes of regional domination.

Has Islamism peaked in the Middle East?

Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, spoke at the conference held by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies this week at Bar-Ilan University, and presented the original thesis that the events over the past few months may mean that Islamism has peaked in the region and has begun its decline.
He cited the popular opposition to Islamist-led governments in Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, and Sudan.
“The more you know it, the less you like it,” he said in reference to Islamism. “It is not popular in the long-term.”

UNESCO and bias against Israel

The theater of the absurd was highlighted in March 2012 when, at a moment that the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in the civil war raging there were being investigated by the Red Cross in Syria, UNESCO voted in favor of keeping Syria on the human rights committee.
Irina Bokova was on October 4, 2013 nominated by the Executive Board of UNESCO to serve a second term as Director-General. She oversees an organization that spends more than 80 per cent of its budget on staff costs, travel, and operating expenses. Very little has been spent on projects except castigation of Israel.

New York Times: Netanyahu on 'Messianic Crusade'

Ten days after publishing a front-page editorial blasting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the UN General Assembly as "combative" and sarcastic, the New York Times has published an interview-profile that portrays Netanyahu as a "shrill" voice on a one-man "messianic crusade" against Iran's nuclear weapons program.
In the piece, the Times says Netanyahu's long campaign against Iran is "a Messianic crusade" according to "critics and admirers alike."

13 years on: BBC website still misleads over 2000 Ramallah lynching

Under the sub-heading “Rising anger”, Asser transparently tries to ‘contextualise’ the lynching by presenting readers with a set of ‘explanatory’
circumstances. He first suggests that the murdered soldiers may have been members of an undercover unit, inventing a very creative interpretation of a picture of one of them being dragged off by a member of the mob after his eyes have been covered with a kefiya placed back to front. Asser also presents the fact that the two soldiers were wearing civilian clothes rather than army uniform (as is quite normal for reservists who have not yet reached their base) as though it were relevant.
In addition, Asser tries to ‘explain’ the lynching by patronisingly portraying it as an inevitable reaction to previous Palestinian casualties.

A new kind of terrorism

In the aftermath of the murder overnight Thursday of retired IDF colonel Seraiah Ofer in the Jordan Valley, early indications suggest that the incident was the latest in a series of sporadic terror attacks carried out by assailants using improvised weapons rather than by organized terror groups. Monique Mor, Ofer’s wife, who heard the assailants speaking outside their home in the Brosh Habika vacation village late Thursday, said they used axes and iron bars to carry out the killing — not “classic” murder weapons.
The suspicion, when looking at what have now been four terror attacks in the West Bank in the past month, is of a new phenomenon: Terrorism that is not carefully premeditated by an organization such as Hamas or Islamic Jihad — rather, attacks by Palestinians acting independently, bent on murdering Israelis, be they soldiers or civilians.

Victim's Widow: 'He was Cut Down by Low-Lives, Just Like That'

The widow of Sariya Ofer, who was brutally murdered in the Jordan Valley Friday, told reporters at week's end that the Jordan Valley (Bik'a) is one of the safest places in Israel. She added that the state must give protection to all of its citizens, including those who live in secluded spots.
Speaking from her hospital bed at Afula's Ha'emek hospital, she said Sarya "was simply an amazing character who knew how to help, make others laugh, make others happy, and offer help. An amazing man who was cut down by two low-lives, just like that."

Abbas to lobby EU to support sanctions against West Bank settlements

The PA leadership fears the EU may delay action against settlements under pressure from the US administration out of fear it could harm the current peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
The US has already asked the EU not to move forward on the matter.
Abbas, who is expected to visit Germany, Italy and Belgium, will urge the leaders of the three countries to go ahead with the EU plan to impose sanctions, a Palestinian official in Ramallah said.

Mortar shells hit near chemical inspectors’ hotel in Syria, killing child

An 8 year old was killed and 11 people were hurt in the blasts in the upscale Abu Roumaneh area of Damascus, the SANA news agency said. One shell fell near a school and the other on a roof, damaging several shops and cars.
The blasts struck some 300 meters (1,000 feet) away from the Four Seasons Hotel where the chemical inspectors and U.N. staff are staying. A U.N. employee staying there said it did not appear that the hotel was affected by the twin explosions. The hotel remained open after the blasts, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Twitchy: Garry Kasparov surprised Nobel committee didn’t give Assad the award for chemistry

PM urges European leaders not to lift Iran sanctions

According to the officials, Netanyahu also warned Hollande and Cameron that Iran had ignored UN Security Council resolutions in the past, and that Tehran has been directly involved in terrorist activities across the globe.
The prime minister added that Iran has provided Syrian President Bashar Assad with military assets that have been used to “slaughter” civilians in the country.

The West cannot afford to be the global village idiot

Western delusion over Middle Eastern pretentions of democracy is nothing new. Although initial hopes were high, the Arab Spring has surely shattered any illusions that the region stands at the dawn of a new age of freedom. President Barack Obama eagerly proclaimed hopes of “genuine democracy” in Egypt following the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, lapping up initial talk of real reform. When free elections ensued, they proved to be a mirage, instead paving the way for an attempted Islamist power grab. A return to military repression soon followed. In Tunisia, the cradle of the Arab Spring, stability hangs in the balance following opposition assassinations and government resignations.

Iran said to ready ‘three-stage’ nuclear compromise

The Iranian delegation to an upcoming round of nuclear talks with the P5+1 nations plans to present a three-stage compromise proposal that would entail Western recognition of the legitimacy of Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment program.
The first stage of the proposal includes a motion that would commit the P5+1 nations – the US, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany – to defining “the recognition of the uranium enrichment right on Iran’s soil” as a goal of the negotiations, Xinhua reported Sunday.

Iran says ‘Israeli spy network’ put on trial

A news agency in Iran said a group of suspected Israeli spies have gone on trial in the country’s southeast.
Judge Dadkhoda Salari was quoted Saturday by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying that the group was led by three people who recruited some 60 Iranians to conspire against Iran’s ruling Islamic government and passed information on to Israel.

Egypt not expected to be hit hard by US aid cuts

The US decision to suspend delivery of tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to Egypt is more of a symbolic slap than a punishing wound to the military-backed government for its slog toward a return to democratic rule.
Egypt is awash in the tanks and planes it would need to fight a conventional war, and spare parts from US manufacturers will continue to be delivered.

Qaradhawi's Friend: Israel Planted a Chip in His Brain or Uses a Double; the Real Qaradhawi Is Dead

2 Turkish students detained for using Nazi salute on concentration camp visit

Two Turkish students were taken into custody in Poland after they allegedly greeted an Israeli student group with a Nazi salute during their visit to a former Nazi concentration camp, the Turkish media reported on Friday.
According to a report by Polish television station TVN24, the incident occurred in Majdanek, a former Nazi concentration camp near the city of Lublin, on Sunday.

Barclays Capital: Israel Could See Several Billion-Dollar Deals in Coming Year

Israel could be the beneficiary of several multi-billion dollar deals in the coming year, Barclays Capital technology M&A manager Richard Hardegree told Israel’s Globes.
“It’s possible that we’ll see two to three $1 billion-plus deals (in Israel) a year. We think that this is the direction, and that we’ll also see many transactions in the hundreds of millions,” Hardegree said ahead of his participation in the Globes-Ernst & Young Israel Journey Conference in Tel Aviv on October 17. “This is definitely a change from the sizes of the past. I think that it’s because Israeli companies are turning in the direction of bigger opportunities and the success of companies which have become market leaders.”

Israel Engineering Co Wins Lockheed Martin Contract to Supply ‘Smart Helmets’ for New F-35 Fighter Jets

Israeli engineering company Elbit Systems Ltd., in partnership with U.S. firm Rockwell Collins Inc., won a new contract to supply “smart helmets” for Lockheed Martin’s next generation F-35 fighter jet, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Friday.
The Elbit-designed “Helmet Mounted Display System” projects real-time images onto its visor, allowing a pilot access to more computer-based information, from weather conditions to night vision. The screen also projects images from six infrared cameras around the fuselage, providing the pilot with access to what’s usually unknown once the jet is airborne.

Tarantino: Israeli flick ‘best of 2013’

Quentin Tarantino is certainly not afraid of the “Big Bad Wolves.” In fact, the neo-noir kingpin was so enamored with the Israeli thriller after viewing it at a South Korean film festival over the weekend that he took to the microphone and declared it the best film of 2013.
“Big Bad Wolves,” from directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, is a gritty story of a vigilante cop (Lior Ashkenazi) chasing a child murderer. It’s one of the darkest films to ever come out of the Israeli film industry, and it’s been praised for its sophistication and subtlety.

Surprise! EU auditors find billions of euros missing in WB/Gaza

From the Sunday Times:

BILLIONS of euros in European aid to the Palestinians may have been misspent, squandered or lost to corruption, according to a damning report by the European Court of Auditors, the Luxembourg-based watchdog.

Brussels transferred more than £1.95bn to the occupied territories between 2008 and 2012 but had little control over how it was spent, the auditors say in an unpublished report seen by The Sunday Times.

EU investigators who visited sites in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank noted “significant shortcomings” in the management of funds sent to Gaza and the West Bank. Gaza is controlled by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the EU.

The auditors complained about the lack of measures to mitigate “high-level” risks, such as “corruption or of funds not being used for their intended purpose”.

A spokesman for the court declined to comment.

No way! You mean that the PA under super-PM Salam Fayyad hasn't shed its decades-long reputation of corruption and theft of international funds? You mean that the hundreds of NGOs in Gaza and the West Bank aren't responsible with all the money being sent to them?

But...but...they are so moderate! They wear ties! They are modern, Western-style institutions, only interested in building a nation! We've been told this dozens of times by politicians and pundits - what possible incentive do they have to downplay corruption and theft in the PA while they blame Israel for everything under the sun?

Say it ain't so!

In a completely unrelated story, France just pledged €24 million to the PA the day after the PA honored the murderer of a French tourist. I'm sure that money will go to good use - like paying the salaries of other terrorists and their families, which takes up 6% of the PA budget.

(h/t Arsen)

Polish Mufti plans to slaughter sheep for Eid al Adha to challenge ban

The leader of Poland's Muslim community, Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, has been in the forefront of challenging the ban on kosher and halal slaughter that went into effect this year in Poland.

While Jewish groups in Europe have campaigned to overturn the ban, Miskiewicz has been more outspoken and innovative in his opposition. In June he noted that eastern European Catholics have a inhumane practice of bashing the heads of carp to kill them for traditional Christmas dishes, and no one is calling to ban that practice.

In September, the Mufti claimed that legal experts agree that EU law trumps domestic Polish law and that the ban was not legal. I cannot vouch for that legal argument, but he's giving it a shot.

Now, in the days before the major Muslim feast of Eid al Adha, where families traditionally slaughter sheep (in a more painful way than kosher slaughter), the Mufti has said that he will publicly slaughter a sheep himself to challenge the ban.
.

While experts have shown that kosher slaughter is far more humane than Muslim slaughter, in either case the religious requirements should not be trampled by people who often use "humanity" as a way to disguise their xenophobia (see the end of this post.) The focus should be on improving existing methods of ritual slaughter, not banning it.

Kudos to Mufti Miskiewicz for standing up to the haters.

PFLP-GC claims 23,000 Syrian Palestinians have fled to Sweden

The PFLP-GC claims that some 23,000 Palestinian Arabs from the Yarmouk camp in Syria have fled to Sweden during the civil war.

Yarmouk camp

The group, which supports the Syrian regime, blames the opposition for setting up their forces in the camp.

I couldn't find verification of the numbers, but they are not unrealistic. In 2012 there were over 2000 Palestinian Arabs along with some 8000 Syrians who sought asylum in Sweden, and things have gotten far worse this year.

There is of course one additional factor: Arab nations have been treating the Palestinian Arab refugees from Syria like garbage, either turning them back at the border (Jordan, Egypt) or putting inhuman restrictions on them (Lebanon.) (I have been unable to determine if Iraq is letting any Palestinian Arab refugees into its camps.)

Oil-rich Gulf countries don't want any of them, either.

It is not surprising that the ones that make it successfully to Sweden will communicate with their relatives and friends and tell them that Europe is far more friendly to Palestinians than their Arab brothers are.

For some reason, "pro-Palestinian" groups are silent as to how their pets are being treated by Arab countries. No rallies, flotillas, or other campaigns against Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. And the last time there was a Palestinian Arab refugee crisis - when they were expelled from Iraq by the thousands - Arab leaders were dead-set against them becoming naturalized in the West, because happy European Palestinian Arabs are no longer useful as cannon fodder against Israel.

It is remarkable how much the very people who pretend to love the Palestinian Arabs the most are the ones who care about them the least. Even more remarkable is that the Western media and "human rights" organizations all but ignore the discrimination and hate by Arabs for their own.

Gaza terror tunnel discovered near Israeli communities

From JPost:

The IDF recently uncovered a Palestinian terrorist tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip to Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, they announced on Sunday.

The tunnel was dug in order to either kidnap civilians and soldiers, or to infiltrate the community and carry out an atrocity in it, the army believes.

The tunnel was over 120 meters in length and represents a grave attempt by Palestinian terrorists to perpetrate an attack, army sources added.

The entrance of the tunnel on the Israeli side was reportedly dug near a kindergarten.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised the IDF for unearthing the tunnel, his spokesman said.

YNet adds:

According to defense establishment estimates, the tunnel was set up in order to execute a large-scale attack on one of the nearby villages. The starting point is located in a village between Gaza Strip's Khan Younis and the border fence. Several spaces were located within the tunnel, which were designed to store and detonate explosives in large quantities. The tunnel also contained tracks with carts and lighting tools. In addition, the tunnel contained advanced technical means to allow its functioning and prevent its collapse.

Here is a satellite map of the area.

Israel recently started allowing iron and concrete to be imported into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossings, after years of NGOs and governments complaining that it is a human rights violation to not allow these sorts of dual-use materials into the Hamas-controlled sector. Up until a few weeks ago, Israel only allowed such materials if they were earmarked for specific projects for known organizations like UN agencies.

From September 29 to October 5, Israel allowed 153 trucks of cement and 77 trucks of iron to enter Gaza.

Reportedly, the tunnel was built with Israeli cement.

You can be certain that none of these organizations or governments will now agree that Israel should be concerned that the material it is allowing is being used for construction of terror tunnels.

These groups and governments who claim to be acting on the basis of the human rights of Gazans rarely extend their concern to the human rights of Israeli kindergartners not to be kidnapped and held hostage.

Fill out this BDS survey for the Methodist Church UK

The Methodist Church UK is apparently considering whether it should encourage its members to boycott and divest from Israel.

In July 2013 the Methodist Conference passed Notice of Motion 201. The motion requests the production of a briefing on the arguments for and against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The wording of the motion as revised and adopted by Methodist Conference is as follows:

Recognising the call of the prophet Micah to "do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God," the Conference directs the Methodist Council to ensure that the Joint Public Issues Team prepare a briefing document for the Methodist People upon the arguments for and against the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement, and for the Methodist Council to bring a report based upon the briefing to the Conference of 2014.

This consultation has been launched to gather a range of perspectives on this topic and is open to all. People are invited to respond either in a personal capacity or as representatives of organisations. Responses will be kept confidential unless specific agreement is made to the contrary.

The briefing commissioned by the Methodist Conference will reflect the range of perspectives on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions arising from this consultation. It is hoped that this briefing will offer helpful reflection for Methodist people as they consider how to respond to the call of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.

There is a 14 question survey that is open to all so you can make your opinion known.

This is not a poll, from what I gather, but an opportunity to make an argument.

Here are the questions:

1. What do you understand to be the motivation/inspiration behind the call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions in relation to Israel?

2. In your view, what would be the essential elements of any peace agreement in Israel/Palestine?

3. Do you support a boycott of products produced within Israeli settlements?

4. Do you support the call for a wider consumer boycott of all Israeli products?

5. If you answer 'Yes' to Question 4, what changes would you need to see to be content to end your boycott?

6. What are the arguments against a consumer boycott of all Israeli products? What are the risks?

7. If you do not support the call for boycott, divestment and sanctions, could you ever see yourself supporting such a call in the future? Under what circumstances?

8. What message does the call for a consumer boycott of Israel communicate to the general public? (please specify whether you are answering with reference to the public in the UK, in Israel, in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or elsewhere)

9. Do you support an academic boycott of Israel? Please explain your reasoning.

10. Do you support a cultural boycott of Israel? Please explain your reasoning.

11. Under what circumstances, if any, should the Methodist Church divest from companies operating in Israel?

12. Should the UK government or European Union impose trade or other restrictions on economic relationships with Israel or alternatively limited restrictions on economic engagement with settlements? If so what form should such sanctions take?

13. What actions other than BDS might members of the Methodist Church take to encourage a political process that could deliver a just and sustainable resolution in Israel and Palestine?

14. Is there any further theological or other comment that you would like to make in relation to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions or are there papers or other resources that you would highlight?

In the slight possibility that this is not an exercise in futility, I encourage you to thoughtfully and respectfully answer these questions.

My answers concentrated on the fact that people who push BDS are guilty of the worst double standards and are effectively (if not consciously) acting in an antisemitic manner by singling out the Jewish state for alleged human rights abuses that are no worse than those of any Western nation at war in history, and even those not at war.

I also emphasized that the entire point of BDS is to only place responsibility for action for peace on one side, giving the Palestinian Arabs a free pass for their behavior and demands. They must be pressured at least as much to compromise for peace, an attitude that the West has abandoned. Incitement, refusal to accept a Jewish state, refusal to compromise, rejection of many previous peace plans, their decision to launch a terror war instead of make peace - all of these should have consequences and should not be rewarded.

Furthermore, I also emphasized that every single Arab nation discriminates against Palestinian Arabs, in not allowing them to become citizens if they so choose (even Jordan no longer allows them to be naturalized anymore.) If anyone cares about the "refugee" issue, this should be their top priority. It is not dependent on a peace agreement. It is simple human rights.

I mentioned that the idea that artists should boycott Israel while playing freely in Lebanon, where there are actual laws discriminating against Palestinians, is the height of hypocrisy.

There are of course many other arguments against BDS, a fundamentally corrupt and immoral concept.

Again, the odds are long that this is anything more than an exercise in getting support for something that is already decided, but better to try now than to complain later.

The deadline is November 4.

(h/t Rosalie)