Kerem Shalom closed because of Gaza attacks on Israel

Ma'an reports:

For a second day in row, Israel closed Gaza’s commercial terminal the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Israeli defense minister Moshe Yalon gave orders to close the crossing Tuesday after an Israeli worker was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper while fixing the border fence in northern Gaza Strip.

What Ma'an doesn't say is that a rocket was also fired from Gaza yesterday.

What no one is reporting is that Egypt allowed 113 trucks of building materials into Gaza through Rafah. It is unclear if these are meant for Qatari projects or for others.

An unnamed official told Palestine Press Agency that he expected Hamas to close the power plant today in order to pressure Israel to re-open Kerem Shalom.

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AP lies about Israelis' acceptance of settlements

Once again, a news service is substituting what it wishes for for reality.

AP has a story about three extreme leftist Israeli actors refusing to perform in Ariel  - and it is pretending that this is becoming the Israeli consensus:

A trio of Israeli stage actors is refusing to perform in an acclaimed play before a theater in a West Bank Jewish settlement, part of a burgeoning domestic movement against the government's settlement policies.

The protest mirrors a global movement against the settlements that has put Israel's government in an increasingly difficult situation as the current round of peace talks with the Palestinians continues.

The international community, including the U.S., has long considered Israeli construction of homes for Jews in the West Bank, captured territory claimed by the Palestinians, as an obstacle to peace.

This sentiment, long held also by Israel's dovish left, now appears to be gaining steam at home following a string of harsh global condemnations of settlement construction in recent months. Some on Israel's left fear the scale of the settlements soon will pass the tipping point where a pullout may become too difficult, and Israel will be forced to essentially absorb the West Bank and its millions of Palestinians.

In a joint statement, the Cameri and Beit Lessin theaters said that three cast members in their production of "Best Friends" had asked to be excused from performing at the cultural center in Ariel, a settlement built deep inside the West Bank. It said they were granted exemptions and will be replaced by alternates, allowing the show to go on.

It doesn't look like it was too hard to find replacement actors, does it?

So what is the evidence that three actors represent a growing movement?

None. Nada. Zero.

In fact, as this recent Globes article shows, Israelis increasingly consider many areas whose houses routinely generate international condemnation as being an integral part of Israel. The Israeli national consensus is moving in the exact opposite direction. This article is a must-read:

[Y]ears of building freezes have caused pent-up demand in settlements in the territories, boosting home prices, as a result, contractors which previously avoided the area are now bidding in tenders there.

In early November, the Israel Land Authority published a tender for a lot in Ariel zoned for 90 apartments. No less than 15 bids were submitted, and the tender was won by Malibu Investments Inc. (TASE: MLBU.B1) with a bid of NIS 12.6 million, plus NIS 4.8 million in development costs,. The tender's minimum price was just NIS 271,000, and the assessor estimated the lot's value at NIS 3.5 million. Seven of the fifteen bids exceeded NIS 8 million, highlighting developers' confidence in Ariel.

This confidence is shared by Gindi Holdings Ltd. and Meshulam Levinstein Contracting and Engineering Ltd. (TASE:LEVI), suggesting that a change in the national consensus has occurred, as neither company had ever bid in a tender beyond the Green Line.

...The latest home sales data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics show that the contractors are right. In January-October, 943 new homes were sold in Judea and Samaria, almost 5% of home sales nationwide, compared with 609 homes sold in 2012 as a whole (2.7% of total sales), and 550 homes sold in 2011 (2.8% of total sales).

"Locations where it is possible to offer apartments for less than NIS 1 million are often found beyond the Green Line, because in high-demand areas the land component and development costs exceed NIS 1 million," says Malibu. "In settlements beyond the Green Line, it's easy to obtain Palestinian workers, which cuts construction costs by 20%. It's easier for a Palestinian worker to go to Modiin Ilit than Ramat Gan."

Keep in mind that Palestinian Arab workers in the settlements make twice the average salary of those who work in Areas A and B.

The Israel Land Authority also saw strong demand in a tender for a lot zoned for 30 apartments in Efrat in late November. There were 7-9 bids. The price per land per apartment was NIS 300,000.

Anglo-Saxon Real Estate Mate Benyamin concessionaire and general manager Arik Vaknish says, "Many people who want a better home than what they can get in a city like Jerusalem are moving to settlements in the regional council. Young couples and people seeking bigger apartments are coming from neighborhoods such as Pisgat Zeev, Givat Zeev, and Neve Yaakov, which are becoming haredi (ultra-orthodox), to settlements such as Anatot, Adam, Kfar Adumim, and Nili. Homes which sold for NIS 600,000 are now going for NIS 1 million, and the strongest demand is for five-room apartments."

...Dona Engineering and Construction Ltd. built apartments in Ma'aleh Adumim in the 1990s through 2006 and sold houses in Ariel in 2009-10. "We do not consider Ma'aleh Adumim, the Etzion Bloc, and Efrat as the territories, but as Jerusalem's suburbs," says Dona VP marketing Ohad Saban. "Settlements such as Ariel, Shaarei Tikva, and Elkana are suburbs of central Israel."

This is the truth about Israeli attitudes towards the settlements beyond the Green Line. AP is creating a story that has no evidence.

(h/t EK, JW)

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Egypt officially declares Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group

From Al Arabiya:

The Egyptian government on Wednesday formally declared the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and banned its protests nationwide.

Minister of Higher Education Hossam Eissa read out the Cabinet statement after a long meeting on Wednesday.

"The Cabinet has declared the Muslim Brotherhood group and its organization as a terrorist organization," Eissa said.

Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi previously described the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday as a terrorist group following a deadly attack on a security building in the city of Mansoura.

Saudi Arabia, which backed the Egyptian government after Mursi’s ouster, condemned terrorism in Egypt on Wednesday. A Royal Court statement said the kingdom “stand heart and mind with its Egyptian brothers.”

The attack killed 14 people and wounded at least 130 others and came just weeks before a referendum on a new constitution that is billed as the first major step toward democracy since the military-backed ouster of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July.

The government blamed the Islamist group for the bombing saying: “all of Egypt was horrified by the ugly crime committed by the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday morning, when it blew up the Daqhaleya police headquarters.”

The Muslim Brotherhood and the so-called anti-coup alliance, however, condemned the attack saying they activities do not include violence and accused the notorious security regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, which they say has returned, of plotting the bombing and blaming it on the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Muslim Brotherhood considers this act as a direct attack on the unity of the Egyptian people and demands an enquiry forthwith so that the perpetrators of this crime may be brought to justice.”

I rather doubt that the MB was directly behind the blast, although Islamist groups inspired by the MB probably were.

In Egypt, both the government and the Muslim Brotherhood routinely lie.

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Al Ahram obsesses over Russian oligarch's (alleged) Judaism

Egypt's popular daily, Al-Ahram, has an article about Vladimir Putin's recent release of former Russian billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky from prison.

While most news sources say that the release was a PR move ahead of the Russia-hosted Winter Olympics for a prisoner that Amnesty called a "prisoner of conscience," Al-Ahram knows better.

We should briefly point out that Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a Jewish billionaire whose ascent to the summit of world's richest people in the Forbes list came from benefiting from infamous and controversial privatization decisions, the outcome of which concentrated the fortunes of Russia's oil and gas and metals to a handful of entrepreneurs, Jews for the most part.

Khodorkovsky's father is Jewish but his mother is not.

The only sites I've seen emphasize the supposed Jewish control of Russia's energy are the usual antisemitic sites like Rense - and Al Ahram.

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12/25 Links Pt2: Why is this occupation different from all other occupations?, The Hamas Caliphate.

From Ian:

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Why is this occupation different from all other occupations?

The EU insists that any agreement it signs with Israel explicitly exclude the settlements in the “occupied” West Bank, the scholars noted in a letter sent last month to Ashton’s Brussels office. So why don’t the same constraints apply in the case of Morocco? This blatant inconsistency shows “an official double-standard practiced by the EU,” Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University and Israeli ex-ambassador to Canada Alan Baker charged.
Last week, the EU responded to the letter, saying, essentially, that Israel’s occupation is different, but without detailing how and why.

The boycott Israel campaign: absolutely no similarities with the 1930s Nazi boycott of Jews (satire)

While Israel continues to be subject to intensified terrorist atrocities - six attacks in the last 2 days - (ignored as usual by the main stream media), the campaign to boycott Israel also intensifies. Some people have suggested similarities between this boycott Israel campaign and the Nazi boycott of Jews in the 1930s. As the following table makes clear there is absolutely no basis for arguing that these boycott campaigns are in any way similar.

War on Want: The ‘charity’ that is just an anti-Israel propaganda organization funded by duped Brits (courtesy of the BBC and Comic Relief)

Looking at the War on Want website today I note that in its annual ‘thank you’ message to its supporters its main listed achievement is its role in the BDS campaign against Israel, including its boast of how it disrupted the AGM of the firm G4S and pressured them into terminating business in Israel. It also takes credit for the UK government issuing “an explicit warning to British businesses over the risks of involvement in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.”:

Disgraced UN rep trying to meet anti-Semite for Christmas lunch in London

Disgraced UN official Richard Falk, who was condemned last week by Canada, Australia and the U.S., recently provided the cover endorsement for a book denounced as anti-Semitic even by the most extreme anti-Israel activists.
Now Falk is trying to meet the anti-Semitic author for lunch in London:
Atzmon’s book asks whether ”Hitler might have been right after all.” The British Foreign Office last year condemned Falk for endorsing it.

Abbas, Ashton join Xmas festivities in Bethlehem

Palestinian dignitaries greeted Twal at the entrance of Bethlehem. His motorcade crawled through the town’s narrow streets as he stopped to shake hands and greet the throngs of visitors. It took him nearly 90 minutes to make the short trip to celebrate Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity compound.
Hundreds of people packed the compound for the service. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh were among the dignitaries in attendance.

BBC’s Knell exploits Christmas report to lie about anti-terrorist fence

Of course Knell conveniently neglects to inform viewers that Jewish communities existed on Jewish-owned land in Gush Etzion long before 1948 and that those communities were destroyed, massacred and ethnically cleansed by British financed, equipped and led Jordanian troops.
What about Knell’s claim of “a high concrete wall around Bethlehem”? Audiences will naturally understand “around” to mean – as it does in the English language – encircling, on every side. However the anti-terrorist fence does not encircle Bethlehem – it is located to its north and west as can be seen on the UN-produced map below.

Richard Millet: St James’s Church, Piccadilly, installs life size replica of Israel’s security wall during 12 days of Christmas.

St James’s Church, Piccadilly, in London’s West End has installed a life size 8 metre tall/30 metre long replica of Israel’s security wall in its courtyard as part of its Bethlehem Unwrapped festival. The replica wall is so vast that it obscures the Church itself.
The replica wall will be lit up at night and for the next twelve days of Christmas (until 5th January) a montage of images and slogans will be continuously projected onto it. Scenes include parts of London with a wall passing through it.

The award for ‘UK paper blaming Israel for ruining Christmas in Bethlehem’ goes to….

Remarkably, in 880 words written by the Times reporter about the fate of Christians in Bethlehem, there isn’t a single word about the problem of Islamist extremism. Nor does she note that the only country in the region where the Christian population is increasing is Israel.
Indeed, the fact that the only nation in the Middle East where Christians are flourishing just happens to be the sole place where radical Islam is not a serious threat is essential to understanding the fate of Christianity in that part of the world – vital context about contrasting values of tolerance in the region which Catherine Philp fails to provide.

More hate courtesy of Ali Abunimah: Tweets about Israel ‘harvesting children’

Ali Abunimah is the co-founder of Electronic Intifada - and occasional ’Comment is Free’ contributor – who opposes the existence of a Jewish state within any borders.
He had this to say on Twitter yesterday about the reported death of a child in Gaza after three separate terrorist incidents on the Israel-Gaza border, which included the murder – by a Palestinian sniper - of an Israeli Bedouin named Saleh Abu Latif:

Israel cannot solve the Palestinian problem

Israel is a country with so many blessings. It has a thriving economy. It has incredible natural beauty. It is even now discovering natural resources. Baruch Hashem People are jealous of Israel’s success. People claim Israel’s success came from criminal action.
Israel is blamed for the suffering of the Palestinians. But Israel is not responsible. Building homes in disputed territory is not a crime. Blowing up buses is a crime. Israel’s success came from hard work, incredible sacrifice and a lot of luck. Israel’s success has helped make the world a better place. Not just for the Jewish people but for all the people in the world. I am proud of Israel’s accomplishments.

Terrorists Threaten to Attack US Troops in Jordan Valley

Khaled al-Azhbet, the official spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist group, warned that if American or other foreign troops are stationed in the Jordan Valley, they will be targeted in attacks.
“We will treat any foreign armed forces as invaders, regardless of their citizenship or their mission,” he declared. “Our policy toward them will be identical to that taken toward the Zionist enemy.”

Hamas Minister: First Israel, then the World

The ultimate goal of the Hamas movement is to establish Islam worldwide, Hamas minister Fathi Hammad declared during a recent public address in Gaza.
“We shall liberate our land, Allah willing. We shall liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque, and our cities and villages, as a prelude to the establishment of the future Islamic Caliphate. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are at the threshold of a global Islamic civilization era,” Hammad proclaimed.

Poll: Most Palestinians believe Israel Poisoned Arafat

According to poll released Tuesday by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, 59 percent of respondents believe Israel fatally poisoned Arafat, while 21 percent "believe that a Palestinian party or group or a joint Palestinian-Israeli party or group is responsible."
Arafat died in 2004, at the age of 75, following an illness. At the time, his wife Suha refused to allow an autopsy. She later allowed investigators to exhume his body after traces of polonium-210 were found on clothing that she provided to scientists as part of an Al Jazeera documentary.

French Soldier Under Investigation for Wearing Nazi Slogan on Uniform

A french soldier serving in the Central African Republic is under investigation for wearing a patch with a Nazi slogan on his uniform.
The patch caught the attention of French Military Chiefs after pictures of the soldier wearing it were posted on Facebook.
According to The Guardian, the patch was round and had "the number 32 on a French flag and the words 'my honor is loyalty.'" Nazi Waffen-SS used the motto during World War II.

French use Nazi-like salute with impunity

Last week, the Swiss municipality of Carouge near Geneva fired two volunteer firefighters over online photos in which they performed the quenelle. In September, two French soldiers were disciplined for performing it in front of a Paris synagogue and then posting the image online.
Dieudonne, a professed anti-Semite, Hamas supporter and Holocaust denier, was convicted last month for a seventh time of incitement against Jews and slapped with a $36,000 fine. Like the Nazi salute, the quenelle is seen as a variant of the Roman salute and, considering its inventor’s penchant for defiance of France’s anti-Nazi laws, is understood to challenge the prohibition on performing the Nazi salute.

Simple air-and-water fuel soon to take off

It’s been a vision and a dream since post-industrial revolution scientists understood there was a problem with burning coal and oil: an alternative fuel made from the basic and plentiful elements on earth.
Could the answer be as simple as water and air?
An Israeli research team from Ben-Gurion University has developed something that seems like fuel for the futuristic Jetson family. But Prof. Moti Herskowitz estimates that in only 10 or 20 years, when the cost of hydrogen becomes low enough to be competitive, his innovation could replace pollution-causing jet fuel.

Paint the new Cornell-Technion New York campus ‘green’

The new campus being built on Roosevelt Island in New York City for the Cornell-Technion technology campus will be the last word in sustainable construction. Plans for the campus were approved by officials last week, with the city signing over 12 acres of land on the East River island to Cornell for construction of the project.

Christian Arabs top country’s matriculation charts

Christian Arabs in Israel appear to represent the most successfully studious sector in the Jewish state, new research shows, as the tiny sector’s students are more likely than any other Israeli community to succeed on their matriculation exams.
According to a study published by the Central Bureau of Statistics ahead of Christmas, over the past school year, 70% of the sector’s high school students were eligible for matriculation, compared to 50% of Muslim-Arab students, 64% of Druze students, and 61% of students enrolled in the mostly Jewish Hebrew education system.

IDF Blog: Christians Serving In the IDF: A Growing Community

Today, as people around the world celebrate Christmas, Christian soldiers serving in the IDF are off duty and at home with their families for the holiday. The growing community of Christian IDF soldiers recently gathered for a special forum to recognize their contribution to the State of Israel.

Historian Says Bugs Bunny Might be Jewish

Stern revealed his findings at a lecture held recently at Britain’s University of Warwick, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported. Stern, who watched thousands of animated shorts that feature Bugs Bunny, noted in his presentation that there are Jewish fingerprints all over the smart aleck cartoon character, including the very voice of Bugs Bunny – Jewish actor Mel Blanc.
Stern’s exhaustive study even included the findings of one specific cartoon episode in which Bugs Bunny flashes back to his childhood. The New York neighborhood Bugs grew up in is teeming with obviously Jewish characters, such as ultra-Orthodox Jews and other stereotypically Eastern European figures from the turn of the 20th century.
Stern closed his case for Bugs Bunny being Jewish by reminding his audience that the legendary rabbit’s arch nemesis is…Porky Pig. The pig, of course, is Judaism’s quintessentially unclean animal.

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Followup on Zoar tombstones

Last week I pointed out a NYT report about how Yeshiva University students were trying to decipher an old Jewish tombstone from Zoar, in today's Jordan.

I happened to see a couple of similar tombstones from Zoar in the Israel Museum this week.

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The Real Truth About Palestine (Danny Ayalon video)

Cute, and some Christmas-relevant points as well:



Background here.

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12/25 Links Pt1: PA rejects EU demand not to fund terrorists, Turkey's war on Santa

From Ian:

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Assemblyman: Investigate Israel academic boycott violation of NYS Human Rights Law

I was on a radio show last week hosted by Hikind and had a chance to explain this law.
This provision of the NYS Human Rights Law was a specific reaction to the Arab League boycott of Israel, which also led to federal anti-boycott laws. The Human Rights Law language is quite clear and more broad than the federal legislation. Since ASA has many NY members and does business in NY, there certainly is jurisdiction.

Rep. Engel to ASA: Boycott Syria, Not Israel

In a letter to the association’s leaders on Monday, Engel argued that boycotting Israel over its government’s treatment of “Palestinians” is a gross double standard.
“I was surprised to learn that Israel is the first country formally subject to a boycott by the ASA, which curiously has chosen to stay silent on China’s suppression of independent academic voices critical of the Communist Party, the Venezuelan government’s retaliation against opposition-oriented universities, or Zimbabwe’s denial of foreign academics from countries critical of Robert Mugabe’s dictatorial government from assuming academic residencies at the University of Zimbabwe,” he wrote.

Anti-Israel academic boycotters complain criticism violates their academic freedom to boycott

Now those behind the boycott are complaining that their academic freedom to engage in an academic boycott is being violated by those who disagree with them!
The U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), the umbrella organization behind all these efforts, is trying to rally support for ASA by encouraging individual and institutional memberships, among other things, Support the ASA: What you can do.
USACBI claims that the academic freedom of the academic boycotters is under attack

UT-Austin and Texas A&M sponsoring annual meeting of anti-Israel academic boycott group

Will UT-Austin allow the NAISA to exclude Israeli scholars and institutions from a conference held on campus? If an Israeli Assistant Dean shows up at the conference, will UT-Austin campus police escort the Israeli from the conference if NAISA so demands?

Honest Reporting: Backlash Against ASA Boycott Gaining Momentum

When the American Studies Association (ASA) voted to launch an academic boycott against Israel in early December, al Jazeera crowed with a headline, Calls to boycott Israel grow on US campuses.
Actually, what’s really growing is the backlash against the association.

One-Sided BDS Roundtable Scheduled for Modern Language Association Confab

As part of its 129th annual convention from Jan. 9-12 in Chicago, the Modern Language Association (MLA) is holding a roundtable discussion titled “Academic Boycotts: A Conversation about Israel and Palestine.” The discussion—to feature supporters but no opponents of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement—is a possible precursor to an MLA academic boycott of Israel that would mirror recent boycotts by the American Studies Association (ASA) and the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association.

Israel blames violence on Palestinian incitement

Israel pointed to ongoing incitement in the Palestinian Authority as the driving force behind a spate of recent terror attacks on Israelis, one of which was fatal, and criticized Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for not speaking out against the incidents.
“The terrorist attacks against Israelis over the last few days are a direct result of the incitement and hatred propagated in Palestinian schools and media,” said Mark Regev, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement on Wednesday. “We are disappointed that so far President Abbas has not condemned these acts of terrorism as one would expect from a partner in peace talks.”

Police chief: Rise in terror anticipated after peace talks resumed

Police commissioner Yochanan Danino said on Wednesday that the security forces have noticed a disturbing uptick in “grassroots terrorism,” something which was predicted once peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed.
As a result of the increased tension on the security front, defense officials have beefed up army and police forces in so-called “sensitive areas,” according to Israel Radio.

PM: We will not tolerate a ‘drizzle’ of attacks from Gaza

Israel would not tolerate a “drizzle” of attacks from Gaza, which would “turn into a storm,” he said.
Since Pillar of Defense, the south has been quieter than it had been for more than a decade, the prime minister said. “I am committed to maintaining that quiet, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is our policy.”
Netanyahu said that there had recently been a “certain increase” in attempts to commit terrorist attacks.

Gaza terror group takes responsibility for sniper attack

The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of Palestinian terrorist factions, took responsibility Wednesday for a sniper attack that killed an Israeli civilian near the Gaza Strip border on Tuesday.
The attack, the PRC stated, was carried out in response to Israel’s “occupation crimes” and killings of Palestinians citizens in Gaza and the West Bank.

When support for Hamas wanes, the cannons roar

The reason for Hamas’s interest in a mild flareup with Israel is apparent in a survey published Tuesday by Dr. Khalil Shikaki’s Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. According to the study, support for Hamas is in decline among Gazans, a trend that the center had already underlined in its September study. Only 33 percent of the latest survey’s respondents in Gaza said they’d vote for Hamas if Palestinian parliamentary elections were to be held today, down from an already poor 39% in September.

Despite spike in terror, Israel expected to release 26 convicted terrorists next week

The group of ministers mandated with drawing up the names of the additional 26 prisoners to be released is expected to meet by the end of the week.
Their decision does not have to go back to the cabinet for approval.

Danon: 'A Normal Country Wouldn't Release Terrorists'

"I call on the Prime Minister to reconsider the release of terrorists given the recent terror attacks," declared Danon at the meeting, referring to the recent wave of attacks since last Friday.
"In a normal country in which a bus blows up on Sunday, a police officer is stabbed on Monday, and a worker fixing the security fence is shot to death on Tuesday, terrorists would not be freed the following week as a 'gesture,'" stated Danon.

US Consulate Tells Employees: Stay Off Sheruts After Bombing

The US Consulate General in Jerusalem has released a notice to all Consulate and Embassy employees with US citizenship, prohibiting them from using sherut or shuttle taxi services for the time being.
The Consulate notice states that the purpose behind the ban is to "assess the security implications of the December 22 bomb attack on a public bus in the Bat Yam neighborhood of Tel Aviv" and notes that there has been a "longstanding prohibition on the use of public busses" for their employees in Israel.

Officer Stabbed by Terrorist Loses Kidney

Officer Rami Ravid was stabbed by a terrorist at the Adam checkpoint north of Jerusalem. He suffered moderate injuries, and was unconscious and on a respirator until Tuesday morning. His condition improved following emergency surgery.
On Tuesday, he opened his eyes and was able to speak to his family.

Two Hurt in Samaria Rock Attack

Two Israelis, a man and woman in their 30s, suffered minor injuries on Tuesday night, after Arab terrorists threw rocks at their cars as they drove near the Western Shomron (Samaria) community of Oranit.
The two were taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for treatment.
Earlier in the same area, an Israeli bus driver was injured when attackers hurled stones at his bus as he drove on the road between Alei Zahav and Oranit.
The driver suffered a head injury in the attack, but managed to drive to the nearest checkpoint to seek help. Paramedics gave him initial treatment at the scene, then evacuated him to hospital in light condition.

PA rejects EU demand not to fund terrorists with EU money

Recently, PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake made a public statement rejecting the European demand that EU funds not go to terrorists. Indeed, Karake mocked the EU for challenging the PA's funding of terror saying, "the Europeans want their money... to remain clean." He said that by viewing Palestinian prisoners as terrorists, Europe has adopted an "occupation mentality." According to the PA, the prisoners "are heroes"

‘We were in a craze to see blood’

The murders of Avrahami and Nurzhitz occurred on October 12, 2000, at the start of the Second Intifada. After they accidentally entered the West Bank city of Ramallah, they were taken to the local Palestinian Authority police station. A crowd of rioters stormed the building and stabbed and beat the soldiers to death. The mob then dragged the soldiers’ mutilated bodies to al-Manara Square in the center of Ramallah.
“We were in a craze to see blood. I entered the room… I saw an Israeli soldier sprawled on the floor in front of the door,” said 32-year-old Aziz Salha, one of the participants in the attack. “I came closer to him and saw a knife lodged in his back, near his right shoulder. I removed the knife and stabbed him in the back two or three times… while others in the room continued to kick him. I put my hand over his mouth and the other on his shoulder, in order to strangle him.”

Anti-Santa campaigns heat up in Turkey as Christmas arrives

A Muslim youth group and a neighborhood authority led two separate anti-Santa campaigns on the eve of Christmas in Turkey.
The Istanbul University branch of a group called Anatolia Youth Association (AGD) released an illustration of a Muslim youth punching Santa Claus in the face and announced that it would make a press statement against Christmas on Dec. 26 in Istanbul.

Pakistani Terror Group Threatens Deadly Attacks on New York, Washington, D.C.

Pakistan’s most dangerous terrorist organization, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), has promised it will attack New York and Washington, D.C., in an act of revenge with suicide fighters, according to a newly released video obtained by TheBlaze.
The group also claims responsibility for the most deadly attack in CIA history and the failed bombing of New York’s Times Square.

Islamic charity officials gave millions to al-Qaeda, U.S. says

When Qatar’s royal family was looking for advice on charitable giving, it turned to a well-regarded professor named Abd al-Rahman al-Nu’aymi. The 59-year-old educator had a stellar résumé that included extensive fundraising experience and years of work with international human rights groups.
But one apparent accomplishment was omitted from the list: According to U.S. officials, Nu’aymi also was working secretly as a financier for al-Qaeda, funneling millions of dollars to the terrorist group’s affiliates in Syria and Iraq even as he led campaigns in Europe for greater freedoms for Muslims.

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EoZ Interview with Mark Regev, Netanyahu's spokesperson

This week I met with Mark Regev, the spokesperson for Israel's Prime Minister's office. We had a great discussion about lots of topics like BDS, the media's attitudes towards Israel and how Israel can respond most effectively to lies, but most of it was off the record. Sorry!

However, he did allow an on-the-record interview - audio only. He speaks about Iran and the peace process and other topics.

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Was Jesus Jewish, "Palestinian" or - "Lebanese?"

Right on the heels of the Palestinian Authority's annual bizarre labeling of Jesus as being "Palestinian," Lebanese media are reporting that he was in fact - "Lebanese."

There is fairly sizable evidence that Jesus was not born in the Bethlehem of Judea, but in a smaller Bethlehem in the Galilee, which is much closer to Nazareth.

The Lebanese article in al-Tayyar is saying that Bethlehem of Galilee is actually in Lebanon. It is based on this book.

Of course, they are using a very expansive definition of "Lebanon," which didn't exist as a nation until very recent times. It is true that parts of the Galilee were temporarily under Phoenician rule and later was part of the Kingdom of Tyre, but during Jesus' life it was part of the Jewish kingdom under Roman rule.

The article even links to this map showing that Bethlehem of Galilee was not part of Phoenicia at that time:

Of course, being the Arab media, the article also goes on to say that much of the Jewish scripture is nonsense, that there is no evidence of King David's existence, and that the biblical Song of Songs was in fact an adaptation of Lebanese songs.

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Mahmoud Abbas' offensive Christmas message

Much has been written about Mahmoud Abbas referring to Jesus as "Palestinian" in a Christmas address. But the rest of his Christmas message is no less offensive, as he attempts to use the Christian holy day as an excuse to extensively bash Israel.

Here is the entire message:

Palestine, the Holy Land, extends its warmest seasonal greetings to the peoples of the world on the holy occasion of the birth of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.

In Bethlehem, more than 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ was born; a Palestinian messenger who would become a guiding light for millions around the world. As we Palestinians strive for our freedom two millennia later, we do our best to follow his example. We work with hope, seeking justice, in order to achieve a lasting peace.

We celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem under occupation. Decades of attempts may have changed Palestine’s landscape, but not its identity. We remain steadfast on our land, our cultural and national identity as strong as ever. This Christmas Eve, our hearts and prayers will be with the millions who are being denied their right to worship in their homeland.

We are thinking of our people in Gaza, trapped under siege, and of those who are prevented from worshipping in Bethlehem. Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Al Dbayeh Refugee Camp in Beirut, along with all of our Palestinian refugees- Christians and Muslims uprooted from their hometowns in 1948 and who, since that time, have suffered the vicissitudes of a forced exile.

Our prayers are with the churches and mosques of Jerusalem which remind the world of the Arab identity of our occupied capital. We pray for the people of Beit Jala and particularly we pray that the 58 Palestinian Christian families of Cremisan have strength in their peaceful struggle against the annexation Wall, which is stealing their land and dooming their future. We reassure them that their struggle goes beyond the borders of Palestine: their prayers and actions have prompted many world leaders to raise the Cremisan issue in our meetings. Israel has been pressured on this issue and many other issues raised through civil society campaigns, a very good example of the merits of non-violent resistance.

On this occasion, we are reminded of the sad fact that more Bethlehemites will be lighting their candles in Santiago de Chile, Chicago, San Pedro de Sula, Melbourne and Toronto than those in Bethlehem. To them we say that Bethlehem is their town and Palestine is their country. We will continue working tirelessly to give them the freedom to decide where to spend Christmas

Christians are not a minority here: they are an integral part of the Palestinian people. Orthodox, Catholics, Armenians, Assyrians, Lutherans, Anglicans, Copts, Melkites, Protestants and others are all part of the rich mosaic of this free, sovereign, democratic and pluralistic Palestine we aspire to have and as established in our declaration of independence and draft constitution.

As we begin preparations for the visit of H.H. Pope Francis next year, we call upon pilgrims from all over the world to come and experience Palestine and our Holy Sites. We hope the visit of H.H. Pope Francis will be a good opportunity for Christians from all over the world to become closer to their sisters and brothers in Palestine, and for His Holiness to spread the message of justice and peace for the Palestinians, as for all peoples of the world.

We are in the middle of a negotiations process with Israel, and we are committed to bring a just peace to the region, including ending the occupation of the Holy Land with the establishment of a fully independent and sovereign Palestinian State on the 1967 border with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This year we celebrate Christmas with the Nativity Church inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being renovated under my auspices and with work coordinated by a Presidential committee working closely with heads of Churches on the matter. I call upon our friends worldwide to contribute to the restoration of this holy place.

On behalf of a people struggling for justice that will lead to peace, we remember the birth of Jesus Christ in a humble grotto in Bethlehem. His message, for us, as for millions around the world remains as pertinent as ever. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill”. This is a message of hope for our people’s daily struggle, from the child that was born here over 2000 years ago.

Abbas also talked about the impending release of more murderous terrorists - at the Church of the Nativity.

Don't Christians find Abbas' nauseating attempts to hijack the holiday for his own political purposes to be hugely offensive? Why is there no outcry about this cynical and sickening politicization of Christmas?

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Netanyahu's Christmas message

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12/24 Links Pt2: Haaretz’s Holocaust Revisionism, Molhem Barakat: From AQ Reject to Reuters

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: Kerry’s oh-so-’90s security nonsense

Like his supporters, US Secretary of State John Kerry has apparently been asleep for the past 20 years.
Kerry has proffered us security arrangements, which he claims will protect Israel from aggression for the long haul. They will do this, he argues, despite the fact that his plan denies the Jewish state physically defensible borders in the framework of a peace deal with the PLO.
There are several serious problems with Kerry’s arrangements. But in the context of Kerry’s repeated claims that his commitment to Israel’s security is unqualified, their most glaring flaws are rooted in their disregard for all the lessons we have learned over the past two decades.

Elliott Abrams: No closer to peace

Two recent articles are reminders that he is unlikely to succeed. In the first, the Arab League says it rejects a continued Israeli troop presence on the eastern border of a future state of Palestine, a proposal Palestinians say was floated by the U.S. earlier this month. Arab League chief Nabil Al-Arabi said Saturday no peace deal would work with Israeli presence in a Palestinian state.
Why is this critical? Because Palestinian president Abbas is hiding behind the Arab League, as the second article shows: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informed the Arab League about the upcoming proposal, saying it would contain U.S. suggestions regarding the borders of the future Palestinian state, Mohammad Sbeih, secretary-general of Palestinian affairs at the Arab League, said. Abbas told the League that "once he receives the American proposal he will not respond but will present it to Arab nations to make a joint decision."

US plan said to include dismantling all Jordan Valley settlements

The proposals, discussed by US Secretary of State John Kerry with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on his recent visits here, infuriated Abbas, who last week went over Kerry’s head and wrote a letter of protest to US President Barack Obama about his concerns.
According to the Army Radio report, the Kerry plan provides for a massively upgraded border fence along the border between the West Bank and Jordan, with the IDF maintaining sole responsibility for the border for the first 10 years of a peace agreement. After that, border authority would be shared in some as-yet unfinalized constellation between Israel and the PA.

Report: Abbas Will Oppose Official Recognition of Jewish State

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presented his terms for the acceptance of a U.S.-backed framework agreement with Israel to the Arab League over the weekend in Cairo, Ma’an News Agency reported on Monday. Among Abbas’ conditions, there is to be no recognition of Israel as a Jewish State.
Ma’an’s source is Muhammad Sabih, Palestinian Affairs Representative to the Arab League.

Israel Archives document: Mossad trained Mandela

Israel State Archives has published a 50-year-old letter from the Mossad claiming it unknowingly offered paramilitary training to a young Nelson Mandela, along with documents illustrating the Jewish state's sympathy for the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1960s.
The release of the documents on the State Archives' website in the wake of Mandela's death appear to be aimed at blunting criticism of the close alliance Israel later developed with South Africa's apartheid rulers.

UN Watch: Timeline: Democracies denounce UN’s Richard Falk for racism
U.S. condemns UN's Richard Falk stooping to "new low", demands his resignation

MS. PSAKI: Well, let me very clear here. We condemn and completely reject Richard Falk’s latest outrageous statements made during an interview with Russia Today. The Administration has repeatedly condemned in the strongest terms his despicable and deeply offensive comments, particularly his anti-Semitic blog postings, his endorsement of 9/11 conspiracy theories, and more recently, his deplorable statements with regard to the terrorist attacks in Boston. His most recent remarks, however, represent a new low. We do not support his mandate or his work, which has been one-sided and biased, nor do we believe he should continue to serve as independent UN rapporteur, and we reiterate our calls for him to step down from this role.

Haaretz’s Holocaust Revisionism

A new level of vileness has been reached in the pages of Haaretz. It has already published work extremely critical of the State of Israel–even running columnists that support boycotting the state. But regardless of one’s opinions on the Palestinian issue, the paper has now shown that it exists in a world entirely divorced from any Jewish consensus, and cannot claim the title of loyal opposition. It has crossed all prior bounds of decency and published a criticism of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, calling it a “myth,” and accusing its heroes of being responsible for the ultimate liquidation of the Ghetto. Despite disagreements on diplomatic, territorial, and religious issues, the memory of the Holocaust–its heroes and victims–had been the great unifying porch in post-War Jewish consciousness. Now the Holocaust is fair game too.

Bennett: Haaretz is Anti-Jewish

“In recent months Haaretz has been running an organized and precise campaign against the Jewish identity of Israel,” Bennett wrote. “Various groups, in conjunction with Haaretz, have been leading the battle. They have had articles that deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and others against visits by students to Jewish sites.”

Why is The New York Times Silent When Hamas Says to Harvest the Skulls of the Jews?

• Hamas TV tells Palestinians it is an "act of worship" to "harvest the skulls of the Jews," and the Times is silent.
• A Hamas official publicly declares it the duty of every Muslim to wage Jihad "to annihilate" the Jews of Israel, and the Times is silent.
• Hamas TV reenacts deadly stabbing and shooting of Jews, boasting of thousands of lethal attacks and vowing "this will never stop," and the Times is silent.
The New York Times, the self-proclaimed "paper of record," habitually ignores genocidal anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Media’s Lexicon Poisons Public Perceptions of Israel

Given Israel’s undeniable historical and legal claims to Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem, it is offensive to state that Jews who live there are in “settlements,” while Arabs live in nearby “neighborhoods, towns, and villages.”
Israel was not “created and founded,” as though artificially and out-of-the-blue, in the 1948 period, while India, Pakistan, Syria, and Lebanon “won their independence” in that same period. The 1948 war was a partition-rejecting multi-nation Arab invasion for Israel’s destruction, not the media’s “war that followed Israel’s creation.” That war created a greater number of rarely media-mentioned Middle Eastern Jewish refugees who were forced from vast Muslim lands that they had lived in for centuries before Mohamed.

Guess which British journalist re-tweeted Gilad Atzmon?

If you’re entertaining the notion that Bar-Hillel’s re-tweet of Atzmon did not in fact ‘imply endorsement’, consider that Atzmon’s post (The Milibands, The BBC and The Proloteriat, Oct. 13) included passages which are quite consistent with Bar-Hillel’s own complaints about the stifling of debate about Israel.

PSC patron’s Christmas smear of Israel promoted on multiple BBC platforms

As for Dalrymple’s claim of those same Christians being pressured by the Israeli government, the simple fact that the vast majority do not live under Israeli rule is enough to demonstrate the absurdity of that assertion, but of course many members of the BBC audiences listening to or reading Dalrymple’s piece will not be aware of its geo-political background. Neither will they be aware of Israel’s annual efforts to facilitate Christmas celebrations for the Palestinian Christians from the Gaza Strip and the PA controlled areas.
However, Dalrymple’s baseless smear does not come out of the blue. Although the BBC describes him merely as “a writer and historian”, Dalrymple is also a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and a patron of Sabeel who has a long history of anti-Israel activism under his belt, including propaganda diatribes at the Guardian and participation in the BDS-supporting ‘PalFest’.

Molhem Barakat: From Al-Qaida Reject to Reuters

Barakat tried to join Al-Qaida. After learning of the photographer’s death, Hannah Lucinda Smith wrote that Barakat was the subject of her story, My Friend, the Aspiring Suicide Bomber.
Smith adds that when Barakat began working as a photographer, he wanted to work with her. (“I refused, because I didn’t want the responsibility of an eager seventeen year old with no war zone training and little experience on my shoulders.”)

Why Do Human Rights Groups Punish Access?

Human-rights groups are an important component of civil society, even if the best-known groups—Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and various United Nations offshoots—corrupt their mission by conflating human rights with politics.
As corrosive a trend among human-rights organizations is their punishment of access. Simply put, the more open a society is to its critics, and the more access it grants outside observers, however tendentious they might be, the more human-rights organizations condemn them relative to societies which engage in large-scale abuse but slam the door to outside observers.

Kanye West wants to take back 'ignorant compliment' about Jews

He told the Chicago-based radio station B96 on Thursday that he was unaware his comment comparing Jews and Blacks would be so ill-received, adding that it was taken the wrong way.
“I thought I was giving a compliment, but if anything it came off more ignorant,” he said. “I don’t know how being told you have money is an insult.”

CareFusion invests $100 million in Caesarea Medical Electronics

American medical tech company CareFusion has that it will invest $100 million for a 40 percent minority stake in Caesarea Medical Electronics(CME), Israel’s infusion pump systems manufacturer.
CME designs, manufactures and markets a range of infusion and syringe pumps as well as related accessories and disposable administration sets for both home care and hospital settings.

AirMule successfully completes series of automated test flights

All unmanned aerial vehicles have a futuristic feel to them, but if you want something that looks like it came straight out of a science fiction film, you can’t beat a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
The AirMule, an unmanned VTOL developed by Israeli company Tactical Robotics, certainly fits that bill, and it recently achieved a milestone by completing several fully automated test flights. According to the company, the flights involved “take-offs, flights to and from a specified location and landing back at its point of origination.” Full mission demonstrations are scheduled for next year.

Spanish city opening museum on its ‘forgotten’ Jews

The Palace of the Forgotten, as the museum is called, is scheduled to open on Jan. 2. It is housed inside the Santa Ines palace located in Albaicin — a neighborhood in the southern city’s old center where many Jews used to live before 1492, when they were forced to convert to Christianity or flee.
The museum contains Judaica artifacts as well as archaeological findings such as ceramic utensils, furniture, artworks and other valuables recovered from Jewish homes. The artifacts were donated to the museum by the Crespo Lopez family, according to a report Dec. 19 by the news site Grenadaimedia.com.

Ancient Jewish Texts Found in Afghanistan to Debut Next Week

Professor Hagai Ben-Shammai, academic director of the National Library spoke to Arutz Sheva Monday about the event, and revealed that thousands of texts were found in the genizah - some dating back to the first century CE. The National Library has managed to acquire 29 texts for archival purposes.
Most of the texts were written in Ancient Persian or Arabic, and consist of legal and commercial documents, according to the Professor. The documents appeared to have belonged to a small group of people.

Israel Daily Picture: A Special Feature for Our Christian Readers
-- Christmas in the Holy Land 100+ Years Ago

Most of the photographs on this page were taken by the American Colony Photographic Department before and after World War I when the British captured Palestine after 400 years of Ottoman rule. Other pictures are from collections at Chatham University and the Irish Catholic Church.

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Stunning Jerusalem snow sculptures

The snow is almost all melted in Jerusalem, although there are some leftover piles here and there.

The Jerusalem Municipality held a snow sculpture contest last weekend, inviting people to submit their best work on their Facebook page. And the entries range from whimsical to stunning.

Enjoy:

By the way, I stumbled onto this while trying to figure out how to pay a Jerusalem parking ticket online.

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Fatah plans 3 day celebration of terror to mark next prisoner release

Israel's third release of terrorists - in exchange for "peace" talks - is scheduled for December 29.

The peace-loving Palestinian Authority will turn the terrorist release into a three-day celebration of terrorism, since January 1 is the 49th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack in January 1965 and is therefore the official anniversary of Fatah itself even though the organization is several years older.

A Fatah Central Committee member, Mahmoud Aloul, said that the event will celebrate "war heroes and martyrs."

He added, "We assure the continuation of the Palestinian revolution in the face of the occupier."

What "occupied" land was Fatah trying to "liberate" in 1965 again?

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