Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, January 03, 2014

01/03 Links Pt1: Kerry vs. Rabin on Israel’s security, IHH Smuggling Weapons into Syria.

From Ian:

Given his warm praise of Rabin and Rabin’s perspectives on the parameters of a genuine, durable peace, one would expect any blueprint from the Secretary of State to incorporate what Rabin defined as areas vital for Israel’s defense.
Rabin, like the authors of UN Security Council Resolution 242 – still the foundation stone of Israeli-Arab peace negotiations – recognized that Israel’s pre-1967 armistice lines left the nation too vulnerable to future aggression. He insisted Israel must hold onto a significant portion of the West Bank to block traditional invasion routes and to protect both Jerusalem and the low-lying coastal plain, the latter home to some 70% of the nation’s population. In his last speech in the Knesset before his assassination, Rabin declared:

The Israel-Palestinian Negotiation and the American mediation: The Jerusalem case

Now John Kerry tries again with the clumsiness of an elephant in a porcelain shop to bring the parties to conclude an agreement, while the issues raised for the “solution” are not the real issues. The US continues to see the subject matter with its wrong mistaken mirror image, as if the “occupation” of the 1967 territories, and the Palestinian refugee issue of 1948, and the Issue of Jerusalem as the capital of the newborn Palestinian state, are the main obstacles to conclude the peace agreement. The US continues to stumble as if she has the formula that brings the parties not only to the negotiation table, not only to a peace agreement, but to peace relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Moreover, the US continues to believe that by reaching this end, most of the issues in the Middle East are solved, and harmony and tranquility reigns over the region.

Language and Lenses: “West Bank” versus “Judaea and Samaria”

Until the Arab-Muslim world gives up its Koranically-based hatred and disdain for the Jewish people, it will be impossible to have any faith that a “Palestinian” state on historically Jewish land will be anything other than a terrorist state devoted to the annihilation of the Jewish state, if not the Jewish people.
Whatever the eventual outcome of this long-standing Arab-Muslim war against the Jews of the Middle East, it should be obvious to Jewish people that denying our own history in that region cannot be a benefit to our people.
It is one thing to give away Jewish land, but it is another thing entirely to give away Jewish history. The former, in my view, might be acceptable if the recipients were kindly disposed toward their Jewish neighbors in acceptance.
The latter is an abomination. (h/t Bob Knot)

EU-funded TV show demonizes Jews

From Palestinian Media Watch:

EU-funded NGO for youth dehumanizes Jews as "crows"

PA TV narrator: “Sometimes we are reluctant to raise our heads in the streets of Jerusalem, because the sight above the walls disturbs us (i.e., of the Israeli flag). Its blue color has nothing to do with the sky or the sea. Its white color is not the color of peace but the color of a rag dipped in our blood. The Star [of David] in its center does not light our way... We may wake up to locked gates and expropriated houses in Jerusalem. The crows pass by and caw (visual of religious Jews) and the rats are armed (visual of Israeli soldiers). But we know that the gates will smile only when we enter them... Jerusalem will never accept any language other than Arabic and any nationality other than Palestinian, no matter how much the flags of the foreigners fly in its sky.”

Note: The Palestinian Youth Association (PYALARA), the producer of this program, is funded by NDC. NDC's international donors include: the European Union, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the Palestinian private organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, accessed December 2013]

NDC is a Palestinian Arab NGO.

PYALARA is also funded by the Olof Palme International Center, the umbrella organization for the Swedish labor movement.

(h/t Ian)

Saeb Erekat, that moderate darling of the West, keeps making preposterous statements in Arabic that the Western media ignores.

His latest is that he is fearful that Abbas would meet the fate of Yasir Arafat - meaning, of course, that Israel would assassinate Abbas the way that Erekat fearlessly accuses Israel of killing Arafat.

He added, "I'm telling you: if Mother Teresa was Chairperson of the Palestinian people and Montesquieu was the Chairman of the Parliament and Thomas Jefferson was president and prime minister and favored a Palestinian state on the '67 borders and Jerusalem as its capital and resolving the refugee issue, our partners [Israel] would describe them as terrorists and say they should get rid of them."

Erekat then showed off his flexibility and moderation by once again listing the PLO's red lines:

First we can not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Secondly we can not accept any Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without Jerusalem. Thirdly we can not accept any Israeli on Palestinian territory, sea or air, after the completion of the gradual withdrawal. Fourth we can not accept any solution without the exercise of the refugees' right of return according to Resolution 194, the right of return and compensation, and (fifth) the release of all prisoners at the signing of the agreement. This is the Palestinian position.

In other words, if they cannot be allowed to destroy Israel demographically, the Palestinian Arabs would prefer not to have a state at all. A peace agreement is less important than allowing murderers to go free and become heroes. Taking away Jewish rights to practice their religion in their holiest city is a basic Arab right. If the PLO does not receive all of its demands, then it would prefer not to have a state with compromises. It would prefer that millions of Palestinian Arabs remain stateless for the next 65 years. It would consider terrorism as a right to get what it demands (as the Fatah platform states explicitly.)

Doesn't this sound just like something Mother Teresa or Thomas Jefferson would say?

The media, of course, is hiding Erekat's absurd words.

Erekat made the same comparison over a year ago. The ever vigilant media missed the story entirely.

Ma'an reported on the assassination accusation - but studiously ignored the part about Mother Teresa that was in the very same article.

But there's more.

Nine years ago, Erekat made another version of this statement that is even more outrageous - and that showed that he justifies terror.

Erekat added that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory "would have turned Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela into terrorists."

This is what Erekat really believes - not that Israel falsely considers Palestinian Arab leaders to be terrorist, but that they have the right to be terrorists.

Over the years he has honed that message to be a bit more Western-friendly. He still says stupid things, but he can rely on the media to edit his words so he is not embarrassed. After all, he is the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Arabs - it wouldn't be right to show that he is an immoral supporter of terrorism, right?

"Quenelle 4 Ever" scrawled on St James Church stunt wall

In the Guardian "Comment is Free" article I referenced earlier about the pathetic defense of the "Bethlehem Unplugged" wall stunt in Piccadilly, the writer claims, "Anything offensive written on the wall has been removed immediately."

Oh, really?

"Quenelle" refers to the neo-Nazi salute that Jew-haters are performing worldwide, often in front of Jewish institutions and sites of atrocities against Jews.

This comes courtesy of Sussex Friends for Israel, which is holding a demonstration against the stunt on Saturday night.

Here is an excellent flyer they are handing out, click to enlarge.

St. James Church's immoral arguments

In "Comment is Free," Lucy Winkett defends St. James Church for its anti-Israel "Bethlehem Unplugged" stunt.

We are supporting a peaceful Palestinian principle known as "beautiful resistance"; expressed in theatres, music projects and festivals that exist to counter military dominance with a commitment to non-violent artistic expression.

According to Winkett, lies and anti-Israel incitement are OK as long as it is positioned as "art". When the lies are built into plays, exhibits such as this, and music, they are transformed from incitement into something "beautiful."

We are acutely aware that antisemitism is real and pernicious and we stand strongly against all forms of racism including antisemitism.

I will donate $100 to St. James Church if they publish an unambiguous and undiluted statement on their website specifically condemning Arab antisemitism.

It is easy to say that you are against antisemitism as an abstract concept, but how courageous are you when you might offend a few hundred million Arabs who learn antisemitic lessons from their newspapers, miniseries, TV shows and schools every day?

We support the state of Israel's right not only to exist but to flourish as a member of the international community within secure, internationally recognised borders.

Let's look at this statement. Israelis were suffering a wave of suicide bombings. Clearly the borders between them and the Palestinian Authority ruled areas were not secure - by definition. So what could Israel have done to secure its citizens, in church logic? Again, it is easy to say Israel has the right to security, but if the church condemns Israel's actions to achieve that security and (by implication) would prefer that the status quo be maintained, then their statement that they support Israel's existence in secure borders is nothing but hot air.

Secondly, we have been challenged that the installation does not acknowledge the government position that the wall was built for security reasons to protect Israeli citizens. It is important therefore to repeat that this is articulated on every leaflet, every display board, and on the festival and church's own websites.

The problem is that the church doesn't recognize that the wall has saved countless lives. Here is how it is mentioned in the St James Church website:

The stated aim of the wall at its inception in 2002 was to protect Israeli citizens from terrorism.

The implication is that this is what the Israeli government claims, with no evidence backing it up.

Yet the number of suicide bombings dropped dramatically as the barrier was erected, and the terrorists freely admit it.

Whether Winkett admits it or not, the very idea of building this stunt wall in London shows that St James Church dismisses the value of Israeli lives. There is no other way to interpret their negative views of the separation barrier.

Back at the St James Church site, we see another whopper:

This wall is symbolic of walls all over the world that divide and confine peoples, restricting free movement and dominating the imagination of those who live behind them.

Ah, so this wall is not to condemn Israel - they are just using it as a symbol of all other walls!

So why choose Israel's?

Well, just like all other people who hate Israel and pretend that they are being morally consistent, "one has to start somewhere." For some reason, that somewhere is always the single Jewish state.

What an astounding coincidence.

01/02 Links Pt2: Even Peaceniks are terror targets, Yemeni Columnist Denounces Calling Jews 'Apes And Pigs'

From Ian:

Even Peaceniks are terror targets

Winston Churchill famously remarked “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
I’ve often suspected the reason some Jews join with our enemies is that the belief that if they support terrorists who want to destroy Israel and the Jews, they will be spared. Many learn too late that it doesn’t matter if you’re a self-hating Jew who is happy to denounce Israel and your fellow Jews; to a terrorist you are still a Jew.

MEMRI: Yemeni Columnist Denounces Custom Of Calling Jews 'Descendants Of Apes And Pigs'

Dr. Youssuf Al-Hadhiri, a columnist for the Yemeni paper 'Aden Al-Ghad, came out against the practice of Muslim clerics and preachers to call the Jews "descendants of apes and pigs" and entrench this expression in the Muslim public discourse. In a recent article, he discusses the Koranic verses that are the source of this expression in order to prove that it is false, and argues that the use of this expression only damages Islam. (h/t Bob Knot)

In Europe, Elites Create the Atmosphere That Allows Popular Anti-Semitism to Grow

One group cloaks its prejudice in high minded rationalizations. The other openly appeals to people’s most base hatreds. The elites might never personally assault anyone or espouse violence. However, they create an atmosphere that allows others to more freely engage in anti-Semitic actions. It is not a matter of one group being worse than the other. It is that both are necessary for the perfect storm. This storm might take a very long time to gather to gale force—but the atmospheric elements increasingly seem to be falling into place.
Yet, before reading this as a license to panic, let’s remember how different things are today than in the Europe of the 1930s. Even before Jews protested and demanded a response to Anelka’s salute—something we can freely do today—political leaders, commentators, and public intellectuals were already condemning it as an expression of racist and anti-Semitic prejudice. Many among them were clear about seeing the ideas underlying the silly hand gesture as a threat to the kind of society in which they wish to live.
Dieudonné, Anelka, and Parker have all responded defensively, variously insisting that their actions have nothing to do with anti-Semitism or were misconstrued. Thankfully, no one believes them.

Has the earliest Hebrew inscription been decoded?

From Times of Israel:

An ancient eight-letter inscription — dating back to King Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago — was deciphered by a researcher from the University of Haifa, shedding light on the Solomonic kingdom’s impressively sophisticated administrative system.

The carving was discovered on a clay jug in the Ophel area, near the southern wall of the Temple Mount, by a Hebrew University archaeological team headed by Dr. Eilat Mazar. It is considered the most ancient Hebrew engraving to emerge from the archaeological digs in Jerusalem to date.

However, the meaning of the cryptic inscription eluded researchers until Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa interpreted it as a classification of a type of wine stored in the jug. He published his findings in the journal “New Studies on Jerusalem.”

Galil estimated that the carving was written in the middle of the tenth century BCE, after King Solomon built the First Temple, his palaces, and the surrounding walls that unified the three areas of the city — the Ophel area, the city of David, and the Temple Mount. These tremendous infrastructural projects contributed, Galil said, to the sudden need for copious quantities of poor-quality wine.

“This wine was not served on the table of King Solomon nor in the Temple,” Galil wrote. “Rather it was probably used by the many forced laborers in the building projects and the soldiers that guarded them. Food and drinks for these laborers were mainly held in the Ophel area.” His theory is shored up by pottery fragments found in Arad, Galil wrote.

Haaretz had details:

Galil suggested that the letters were early Hebrew and identified the key word as "yayin", meaning wine.

Of all the region’s languages, Galil noted, only southern Hebrew wrote the word yayin with two instances of the letter yod, rather than one.

According to Galil’s interpretation, the inscription describes the wine that was in the jar bearing the inscription. The first letter is a final mem, which could be the end of the word "esrim" (twenty) or "shloshim" (thirty,) referring to either the twentieth or thirtieth year of Solomon’s reign. Next comes the word "yayin" (wine) followed by the word "halak", and then the letter mem, the first letter of the wine’s place of origin.

"Halak" is an oenological term from the Northern Syrian language of Ugarit. It referred to the lowest of three types of wine – “good wine,” “no good wine” and lowly "halak". Galil speculated that the poor-quality wine was drunk by the king's conscript labor force working on various building projects.

Here is Galil's illustration of the letters in the ancient Semitic alphabet:

The three rightmost letters are partially conjecture on Galil's part; most of them fall outside the actual piece of pottery:

When you see that, then the "two yod" theory seems much less strong - those points could be part of other letters of the alphabet at the time.

The word "halak" (h-l-q) seems to be the best evidence for the missing letters to spell "yayin" but it is not a sure thing. This paper from July posits that the letters should actually be read right to left, and he also assumes that some letters are different than Galil's assumptions - for example, instead of h-l-q it might be h-p-q or h-l-r.

Still, Galil's hypothesis is interesting and any inscription in Jerusalem from First Temple times is spectacular.

(h/t DM)

The hundredth school to condemn ASA's boycott of Israel

Avi Mayer has been keeping track of the colleges and universities who have condemned the ASA for their boycott of Israel. So far, one hundred have joined the condemnation.

(I am hearing noises that the ASA itself might not survive this kerfuffle.)

The hundredth institution is Catholic University of America, and their letter is worth posting here:

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT JOHN GARVEY

ON THE AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES

The American Studies Association’s recent call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions is lamentable. The Association has appointed itself as a kind of inept volunteer fire department, aiming to put out the Israeli-Palestinian conflagration by throwing gasoline on the fire. That’s not exactly right. It has decided to pour gas not on the source of the fire but on bystanders, some of whom are trying to extinguish the flames. No good can come of punishing academic institutions for the shortcomings, real and perceived, of their nations’ leaders and policies.

Rather than restricting academic freedom to advance political causes, academic organizations like the ASA should be working to foster dialogue with their foreign interlocutors, perhaps especially those they disagree with. The academy – universities, faculties, and satellite institutions – is a place where research, open discussion, and creative thought can lead to reforms and new approaches to longstanding problems. I hope the ASA’s call for a boycott produces just the opposite of its intended result – a proliferation of U.S. linkages with Israeli universities and other universities in the Middle East.

Jamal "Boom-boom" al-Jamal

Yesterday:

An explosion on the premises of the future Palestinian embassy in Prague-Suchdol killed Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic Jamal Al Jamal, 56, but Poice President Martin Červíček said this was not an act of terrorism.

Prague Police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulová said a security system may have exploded on the safe.

Well, so much for that theory, which the New York Times accepted without question.

A large, illegal weapons stockpile was found Thursday at the home of the Palestinian ambassador in Prague, Jamel al-Jamal, Czech media reported, a day after al-Jamal was killed in an explosion there

Respekt, a Czech weekly newspaper, reported that the arsenal was enough to arm a unit of ten men.

Czech police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova confirmed that arms had been found in the ambassador’s residence, which is located within a newly constructed Palestinian diplomatic mission in the city.

Channel 2 News reported that the stockpile included heavy firearms, that it was held illegally, and that its existence had not been previously known to the Czech authorities.

Assuming that Jamal was not the one responsible for the explosives and arsenal of weapons, who was?

It seems likely to be this guy:

The first ambassador of the State of Palestine to Prague was Samih Abd al-Fatah, known as Abu Hisham, a veteran of the Palestinian movement who was close to Yasser Arafat. He was Jamal's superior and diplomacy teacher. As a result, Jamal, too, was Arafat's man to an extent, a source from the Arab community in Prague told LN.

A State Department cable revealed on Wikileaks describes Abu Hisham as "a close advisor on security affairs to PA President Mahmoud Abbas."

Is it conceivable that a cache of weapons and explosives could have been hidden at the PLO's Czech mission without Abu Hisham's knowledge? And is it conceivable that the decision to have such a weapons cache didn't come from Ramallah?

The PLO is a Soviet-style top-down organization where very few people are allowed to act or think independently. There is no way that this is peculiar to the Czech mission.

I hope that every PLO office worldwide is being searched now.

All of this makes the EU's insistence that terror groups can have "political wings" seem rather quaint. Along with the idea that Fatah and the PLO are peace-seeking organizations.

01/02 Links Pt1: Will Arab Countries Label the MB a Terrorist Group?, PA doc. predicts ‘third intifada’

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Will Arabs Have the Courage to Label Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group?

The question being asked today in the Arab world is whether other countries will take similar measures against Muslim Brotherhood groups and branches.
Buoyed by the Egyptian move, Palestinian and Jordanian political analysts and activists have urged their leaders to seize the opportunity and crack down on the Islamists in their countries.
But for now it seems that most Arabs, especially the Jordanians and Palestinians, are reluctant to follow the Egyptians — the reason why this week the Egyptians urged the members of the Arab League to enforce a counter-terrorism treaty that would block funding and support for Muslim Brotherhood.
Badr Abdelatty, spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign ministry, said Arab League members that signed the 1998 treaty should enforce it against the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a presence in most Arab countries.

The "Palestinian Revolution" Began In 1965

In 1965 - before the 1967 conflict which resulted in the "occupation" and before "settlements" were constructed.
So says Abbas (thanks IMRA):-

Final Status Agreement Guarantees Our Rights
“We negotiate with Israel to reach a solution that leads to a Palestinian state within the 1967 occupied territory, with Jerusalem as a capital. We negotiate to reach a fair solution to the refugees’ issue based on the UN Resolution 194 as stated in the Arab Peace Initiative”, said Abbas.
...Abbas made reference to the 1965 Revolution by saying it was a success; its ideas of adhering to the national rights and aspirations have been successful from one generation to another.
(h/t NormanF)

CiF Watch prompts correction to false Indy claim about “caged” Palestinian kids

A couple of hours ago we posted about a horribly misleading report in The Independent (Israel government tortures Palestinian children by keeping them in cages, human rights group says, Jan. 1) which included the following:

The broad, unsubstantiated insinuation, based on very vague wording in a report by the radical NGO PCATI, that Palestinian kids detained by Israeli security personnel are “tortured”.
The charge, based on completely uncorroborated allegations, based on a PCATI report, that Palestinian children are sexually abused while in custody.
The completely erroneous charge that Palestinian children were caged “for months” - an allegation which was not even leveled by PCATI, nor by anyone involved in the story.
Following our complaint to Indy editors, the word torture in the headline was placed in quotes and, more importantly, the false charge that Palestinian children were caged for months has been amended.

The Telegraph exposes "Breaking the Silence" (and the entire NGO funding ecosystem)

When you get NGO money involved, all of a sudden the truth is less important than pleasing your sponsors. This is a must-read from Jake Wallis Simons:

In a grimy corner of downtown Jerusalem, tucked away on the top floor of an anonymous-looking block of offices, is the headquarters of an organisation called Breaking the Silence.

This is a group of former Israeli soldiers who have served in the West Bank, and aim to “expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories”.

...
I liked all the members personally, and at first found them to be sincere in their beliefs. But when the interviews began, something didn’t feel right.

For one thing, the majority of the testimonies seemed to reflect the roughness of the military rather than any human rights abuse. The indignity of checkpoints; the intrusion of house-to-house searches; the unpleasantness of curfews. All of this stuff is awful, but only a small percentage of it appeared to warrant court martial.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Breaking the Silence was milking it.

It was only a hunch at first. But later, the bias of the organisation became clearer. During a break between interviews, I asked Yehuda Shaul, one of the founders of the organisation, how the group is funded. It was with some surprise that I learned that 45 per cent of it is donated by European countries, including Norway and Spain, and the European Union. Other donors include UNICEF, Christian Aid and Oxfam GB. To me this seemed potentially problematic....It appeared that these former soldiers, some of whom draw salaries from Breaking the Silence, were motivated by financial and political concerns to further a pro-Palestinian agenda. They weren’t merely telling the truth about their experiences. They were under pressure to perform.

Indeed, I later discovered that there have been many allegations in the past that members of the organisation either fabricated or exaggerated their testimonies.

The matter became more unsettling when one of Breaking the Silence’s former soldiers accompanied me to Hebron...

We set up our video camera outside an army base in the Israeli sector of Hebron, and I began to interview the former soldier from Breaking the Silence. He was talking about his army service, and came out with the line, “the first time I ever met a Palestinian was when I entered his house in the middle of the night”.

While he was speaking a car drove by behind him, drowning out his words. I said: “Just give me it one more time about how… the first time you ever met a Palestinian was when you kicked down his door in the middle of the night”. This was my mistake; he hadn’t said that he kicked down anything.

He duly repeated it. This time, however, he took my lead and changed his account from “entered his house in the middle of the night” to “kicked down his door in the middle of the night”. On the surface it may seem like a small detail. But when we played back the tape I found the ease with which he exaggerated his story very troubling. We didn’t use the interview.

Most worryingly of all, Breaking the Silence focuses almost exclusively on Hebron, presenting it as typical. Several times a month it ships foreign diplomats, officials and ordinary folk to this unhappy place, showing them the grim military infrastructure and providing testimony about the abuses carried out by settlers and soldiers.

The group does not offer tours to any other settlements on the West Bank. This one city, they say, is a “microcosm of occupation”.

Now, there is no doubt that Hebron is a highly disturbing place, or that violence takes place there on a regular basis. But all the anti-settlement organisations I spoke to, including Peace Now, B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights, acknowledged that Hebron is the exception rather than the rule. Most settlements are far more peaceful and less abusive. A few even have supermarkets where Arabs and Jews shop side-by-side.

This isn’t to justify the existence of the settlements, or to soften the debate about their legality. It is to illustrate the simple point that Breaking the Silence appears to be sexing up the harshness of the Israeli presence on the West Bank by focussing only on its very worst manifestation. That is to say, it is warping the terms of the debate. And it is funded largely by Europe, and by extension the UK.

Whatever your view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is surely self-evident that it must be based on the truth of the situation, not a biased and partial interpretation of it.

This is the problem with all of these anti-Israel NGOs. They depend on funding to exist, and that funding comes from sources that want them to justify their existence by fulfilling the agenda of the funders. The pressure to constantly issue anti-Israel reports is literally existential. No one is paying anyone to create reports that say that Israel treats Arabs well - there is no political gain from that.

The decision to oppose Israeli policy has already been made by the EU, and it funds groups to support that decision, not to uncover the truth. The NGOs, in turn, happily fulfill that role to continue to receive tens of millions of dollars. Lazy reporters, in turn, are happy to parrot the findings of these biased reports, because it is easy to cut and paste and they can get to their pubs earlier in the day. It is a self-feeding cycle.

The entire ecosystem of NGO funding is rotten, but that story isn't sexy enough to attract funding either. And most reporters aren't energetic or honest enough to dig behind what the NGOs themselves are saying.

Kudos to Jake Wallis Simons for looking beyond the stories being hand-fed to hundreds of journalists in Israel.

You won't believe how many new settlements have been approved by Israel since 1990

Here is a BBC comedy program that spoofs what the world agrees is Israel's inexorable expansion of settlements:

The reason that people think this is funny is because it appears to be based on what is universally accepted as truth - that Israel keeps building more and more settlements. For decades we have heard that these settlements are endangering a two-state solution because they are grabbing more and more land, and eventually there won't be any land left for Palestinian Arabs to live on.

What is the truth?

Well, just ask Peace Now: From their report on April 19, 2012:

According to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated this week that the Government will approve the establishment of three settlements (Bruchin, Sansana and Rechalim), in the upcoming cabinet meeting on Sunday, April 22. This decision is required in order to legalize the illegal outposts.... If approved next Sunday, it will be the first time since the Shamir Government in 1990 that the Israeli government is deciding on the establishment of new settlements.

That's right. In 23 years, Israel has approved exactly three new settlements.

Since then, no new settlements have been approved. Peace Now also has a report on settlement activity since Bibi was re-elected and not one new settlement is mentioned.

To be sure, within existing settlement boundaries, there have been many new buildings added. The vast majority of this building takes up no additional land whatsoever. And the vast majority of the building also takes place in areas that Israel will continue to control in any possible peace agreement. (Sometimes, a few times a year according to Peace Now, new neighborhoods are approved that expand existing settlements into state land as well, never into privately owned Arab land, and always in Area C, where only about 2% of Palestinian Arabs live to begin with.)

It is true that dozens of illegal outposts have been set up as well, against Israeli law. (Which means, by definition, their existence is not against international law no matter how you interpret the Geneva Conventions.)

Of course, the Netanyahu government has made no secret that it intends to legalize other older settlements. Yet - it hasn't, after being in power for nearly five years.

In 2002, Btselem claimed that 1.7% of area of the West Bank is taken up by settlements plus roads to them. Peace Now put the amount of settlement lands at 1.36% at the time. However, Saeb Erekat said that an aerial survey of the area funded by the EU showed that Israeli settlements only took up 1.1% of the land in 2011! (He was actually arguing that since they take up so little space, "Palestine" should be created based on the "1967 lines.")

This is hardly the massive expansion of land that is being portrayed by the media, politicians, and now comedy programs. In real terms, Israel's settlement policy has done very little since before Oslo to imperil any two state solution.

Outside of celebrity scandals, Israel's settlement policy is perhaps the most exaggerated issue in the history of news media.

(h/t Anne)

Egyptian astrologer says Jews will be powerful in December 2014

Great stuff from MEMRI:

In an end-of-year interview on Al-Nahar TV, Egyptian astrologer Sayyed Al-Shimi warned that whenever Saturn enters a fire sign, the Jews become stronger. Attributing various events, including the first World Zionist Congress, the Balfour Declaration, and the 1948, 1956, and 1967 wars, to the constellation of the stars, Al-Shimi warned that in December 2014, Saturn would enter Sagittarius again.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on Al-Nahar TV and was posted on the Internet on December 31, 2013:

Sayyed Al-Shimi: Saturn will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. My late father and I have had a long history with Saturn entering fire signs. As Sheik Daud Al-Antaki wrote, when Saturn enters any of the fire signs, the Jews grow stronger. Don't believe in this merely because I say so. It's been tested. We tested it, and it turned out that...

Interviewer: What happened in the past in such a case?

Sayyed Al-Shimi: We discovered that Saturn entered the fire sign of Sagittarius when the first World Zionist Congress convened. The Balfour Declaration was released when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The Haganah Brigades began organizing and helping the English in 1928, when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1948 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The 1956 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1967 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Aries.

Between 1963-1967, my late father warned in his annual reports: "Beware, Saturn will enter the sign of Aries in 1967, and this means that the Jews will grow stronger, just like in 1956 and in 1948." "Beware," he said, "something is about to happen." But they refused to believe him.
[...]
After visiting the sign of Aries, Saturn entered the sign of Leo. This was in 1977, when Sadat visited Jerusalem.
[...]
The last time Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo occurred in 2006. I started warning them in 2004: "Beware, when Saturn enters the sign of Leo, the Jews in Palestine will get stronger. Something leading to this will inevitably occur." What happened? The Palestinian Authority split into Fatah and Hamas. Now Saturn is about to enter...

Interviewer: It all happens in fire signs? Saturn never enters a water sign, or whatever?

Sayyed Al-Shimi: It does enter water signs, but in December 2014, it will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. Therefore, I hope that until December 2014, the Arab leaders must do whatever they can to resolve the Palestinian problem.

[...]

I guess Al Shimi disagrees with the Talmud (Shabbat 156a) that says that astrological portents do not apply to Israel (ein mazel l'Yisrael.).

Hamas admits Gaza is not under siege

Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades tweeted:

Palestine Crops From #Palestine Land To #GlobalMarket pic.twitter.com/f04YpP4pQm
— Alqassam Brigades (@AlqassamBrigade) December 31, 2013

Funny, I published that same photo in 2011.

The only way that Gaza can export strawberries is through Israel. So Hamas, by tweeting how wonderful it is that Gaza can export produce, is admitting that there is no siege on Gaza.

On Sunday, Israel allowed seven truckloads of strawberries and one of cherry tomatoes to go through Kerem Shalom to be exported to Europe.

01/01 Links Pt2: 92 Unis reject BDS, Israel bans European Hamas group inc. fmr. MP Clare Short

From Ian:

Israel Outlaws Hamas’s European Front Group CEPR; IDF Could Arrest its MP Board Members on Arrival

Citing emergency defense regulations, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has outlawed The Council for European Palestinian Relations, a Belgian-registered non-profit organization that serves as terror group Hamas’s mouthpiece in Europe.
The members of parliament include British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, German representative Alexandra Thein, Swiss MP Geri Müller and British MP Norman Warner, a member of the House of Lords, who was a health minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, and now serves on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine. Former British International Development Secretary Clare Short, who resigned in 2003, when the UK entered the Iraq War, is Chair of CEPR’s Board of Trustees, and would also be barred from Israel by the move.

St James’s Church’s replica of Israel’s security wall cost….£30,000

For British Jews the replica wall and Bethlehem Unwrapped are a disaster. I agree with Melanie Phillips when she states that its inevitable effect will be “to incite hatred against Israel and all who support its defence”, which means even more vigilance at synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish events.
Some will benefit though. Ottolenghi and his chef partner Sami Tamimi and Dembina, Zaltzman and Cohen will have had their faces and names plastered all over the gates of the Church which looks out onto one of the busiest roads in London. Not forgetting Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, Dean Willars and Deborah Burton who all helped to design the replica wall (see below).
In the end the £30,000 cost of the wall could have been donated to help those that St James’s Church, Piccadilly, really claims to care for: the people of Bethlehem.

Unwrapped: An ugly Guardian smear

Of course, suggesting that Israel engages in codified segregation by erecting such a fence fails the most obvious tests of logic and common sense, as Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank are NOT citizens of Israel and therefore can’t possibly be expected to enjoy the same rights and privileges. Suggesting that Israel’s barrier represents “segregation” (a word which typically refers to separation or isolation based on race) is as absurd as claiming that United States is practicing ‘segregation’ on their southern border because Mexican citizens aren’t allowed to automatically cross the ‘fenced’ border into America.
In short, there is no racial component to Israeli checkpoints and security fences.
Finally, it is interesting to note that when you look closely at the Guardian’s photo it is cut off around the lower left where two Brits (Sharon and Lesley Klaff) spray painted in red the words “THIS WALL SAVES LIVES”.