Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, February 21, 2014

02/21 Links Pt1: Abbas’s intransigence and insolence; Hamas Tests AA Missiles Against Israel

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Rousing the Americans from their slumber

In several key cases, supporting US allies will require fewer, rather than more, US oversees deployments.
For instance, as Israel’s leaders have stated since the founding of the state, Israel has no interest in having anyone else fight its wars for it. All it requires is the strength – military, economic, territorial and political – to defend itself by itself.
Rather than seek to weaken Israel by coercing it to recede to indefensible borders in order to make room for a Palestinian terrorist state in its historic heartland, the US should abandon its support for Palestinian terrorists and ensure that Israel has the power to defend itself in a region marked by unprecedented instability and danger.
A strong Israel will be a force for regional stability and so advance US security while forming the firm foundation of a renewed US alliance structure in the region.

Sarah Honig: Happy days are (almost) here

We have news for Abbas. Jordan and Egypt, unlike the Palestinians, never sought to replace the Jewish state and the UN already granted us recognition, back on November 29, 1947 – when it divided this tiny land into two entities – one Jewish and one Arab.
The Jews rejoiced. The Arabs declared genocidal war to prevent the birth of a Jewish state. All that has transpired since is the continuation of that war and the ongoing conflict still stems from the refusal to abide a Jewish state.
In 1947 the Arab world didn’t want a Palestinian state – it wanted to destroy the Jewish state. It still does. A nondescript state, temporarily called Israel, will forever remain a candidate for Arabization – one way or another. As long as the legitimacy of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people is not accepted, the Arabs will continue to wage their war to do away with what they cannot accept.
That’s why Abbas’s honeyed blandishments and professions of peaceful intent are as convincing as were Hitler’s when he inveigled Neville Chamberlain to choose appeasement at Munich. The “painful sacrifices” of September 29, 1938 – all Germany claimed to be after – hardly sated Hitler’s appetites. On March 16 1939, he invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia. (h/t NormanF)

US: Peace framework will recognize Israel as Jewish state

US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro asserted on Friday that the framework peace deal currently being negotiated by US Secretary of State of John Kerry will include Palestinian recognition of Israel as “the nation state of the Jewish people.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel’s Jewishness has been a sticking point in negotiations, with the Palestinians refusing to accede to a demand that would tacitly do away with Palestinian hopes for a “right of return” for refugees and their descendants.

Arafat accepted Israel as a Jewish State

From Haaretz:

One of the interviewers was Haaretz’s editor in chief, the other the paper’s senior diplomatic reporter. Both were first-class professionals with vast experience, and both were lily-white doves. Nevertheless, the two peace-seeking interviewers dared to ask the high-level interviewee a question that’s currently considered beyond the pale in these parts: Should Israel continue to be a Jewish state?

Surprisingly, the evasive interviewee gave a decisive answer: “Definitely.” The two experienced interviewers doubled-checked: Definitely? “Definitely,” confirmed the interviewee, giving an expansive interpretation of the historic decision made by the Palestine National Council 16 years earlier.

Thus it’s no surprise that Haaretz’s lead headline on June 18, 2004 trumpeted his statement: “Arafat: Israel is Jewish.” On the basis of what the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization told David Landau and Akiva Eldar in Ramallah 10 years ago, the paper declared unambiguously that “Yasser Arafat ‘definitely’ understands that Israel must preserve its character as a Jewish state.”

Veteran journalist Amnon Abramovich says the Israeli media lives by the 90-day rule. Under this rule, any article published in the past can be republished as a fresh scoop as long as it hasn’t been published in the past 90 days. So in line with the Abramovich rule, I hereby seek to revive Haaretz’s dramatic scoop: Arafat recognized Israel as a Jewish state. The leader of the Palestinian revolution, president of the Palestinian Authority and commander of the armed struggle accepted the fact that Israel is a Jewish state, and must continue to be one.

This is sort of amazing.

There have been scores of articles official statements and articles in the Palestinian Arab press, in English and Arabic, explaining why recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is a non-starter, is unacceptable and is even racist.

Yet none of these people would ever disagree with Arafat.

Obviously, Arafat was a terrorist, a murderer, and a liar. The full interview is no longer on Haaretz' website; the synopsis says that Arafat said that the PLO "accepted that openly and officially in 1988 at our Palestine National Council." That is more than a stretch; the UN record of the PLO communique at the time certainly doesn't say that. The closest it says is this:

Despite the historical injustice done to the Palestinian Arab people in its displacement and in being deprived of the right to self-determination following the adoption of General Assembly resolution 181 (II) of 1947, which partitioned Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish State, that resolution nevertheless continues to attach conditions to international legitimacy that guarantee the Palestinian Arab people the right to sovereignty and national independence.

If they are attaching their legitimacy to a non-binding UN resolution that they rejected - which is the very reason it has no legal validity - then perhaps one can say that in 1988 they accepted the concept of a Jewish state on the partition lines. Again, he was a master of deception and this seems more than tenuous.

Nevertheless, his wording in this interview is quite definitive and it did not cause any major firestorm within the PLO as far as I can tell. Indeed, the statement has been wholly forgotten.

Notice also that the liberal Haaretz interviewers are mentioning this as a major issue in 2004 - before Netanyahu was re-elected, before Livni made the same demand in negotiations to be rebuffed by the PLO negotiating team in 2007. It is not a new issue.

It will be most interesting to see how Abbas, Erekat and the gang of liars in charge of the PLO will react to this.

New Danny Ayalon video: "The Truth About the UN"

Worth watching, as always:

Two honor killings in Gaza

Arabic media are reporting that a man in northern Gaza beat his 16-year old daughter to death.

The family had buried her on Wednesday claiming she died of natural causes but police exhumed her body a day later and saw that she was beaten.

The reason given was "family problems." The father is divorced.

Also on Thursday, a man stabbed his 19-year old sister to death while she was praying. The reason given was "family honor."

Some 27 women were murdered, apparently for "honor" reasons, in the West Bank and Gaza in 2013, double the number killed in 2012.

Survey of the situation of Jews in Arab states before Israel was reborn

From JTA, reproduced in various Jewish newspapers in August 1947:

Amazing blog post from a Syrian refugee in Istanbul

Yesterday, Israel's prime minister visited the field hospital where Syrian patients are being treated. Here's what he said:

The Syrian opposition condemned Netanyahu!

Khalid Saleh, head of the Media Office, said that “the visit paid by Prime Minister of the Israeli occupation to one of the hospitals where injured Syrians are being hospitalized is nothing more than a publicity gimmick and a deliberate move to hint that there is a certain relationship between the Syrian revolution and the Zionist entity. Israel’s Prime Minister aims at whitewashing his tarnished image in the minds of the Arab and Islamic peoples.” Saleh denounces “Israel’s investment in the plight of the Syrian people and using them as tools to spruce up his besmirched image. Saleh stresses that “the Israeli entity stood against the Syrian uprising from the start when they repeatedly warned of the danger of the weapons falling in the hands of what they described as terrorists. These “terrorists” - wounded civilians who were forcedly taken to Israeli hospitals and are being employed today for marketing their political agenda.” Saleh points out that “forcing some of the wounded civilians to receive treatment in the hospitals of the Israeli occupation as a result of the crippling siege imposed by the Assad regime lays bare Assad’s claims about resisting the Israeli occupation.”

This bizarre response did not go unnoticed by real Syrian refugees.

Aboud Dandachi, a Syrian from Homs, has a blog describing his experiences. Here's what he has to say about this episode:

This one press release by the SNC may very well prove to be one of the most self-damaging statements ever released by a political organization. Not only did the SNC fall into a trap by reacting hastily to goading from its opponents, but by denouncing an act of charity that has saved so many Syrian lives, even from a country that has historically been an adversary to Syria, the SNC has very much called into question the Syrian political opposition’s ability to engage in any post-conflict reconciliation with those communities that stood with the regime during the war. If you can’t even bring yourself to say thank you to medical aid from Israel, how on earth are you ever going to bring yourself to meet the greater challenge of living and let live with those Syrians who fought for the regime over the years. To say nothing of the vindication of those parties very much against any sort of help to the Syrian opposition, whom those parties see as potential adversaries in the future.

Alas, the SNC’s position is by no means an isolated one among the Syrian opposition. Indeed, the coalition probably felt compelled to make a denunciation along these lines to maintain its credibility among the rank and file activists. This one statement is going to have some very far reaching repercussions, especially with respect to any further aid the opposition can expect to receive. Who in their right mind is going to provide MANPADs and advanced anti-tank missiles to an opposition that can’t even reconcile itself to medical aid from a perceived adversary. Frankly, this regrettable episode has demonstrated that the Syrian political opposition still has alot of growing up to do.

The idea that any Syrian should feel apologetic for seeking medical aid from an Israeli hospital is yet one more morally bankrupt notion in a conflict that has already laid bare the moral shortcomings of many formerly esteemed parties and movements. ...This is a regime that has targeted Red Crescent volunteers and murdered a British surgeon for giving the exact same aid the Israelis are providing wounded Syrians. Dr Abbas Khan was rightly hailed as a hero, and Israel’s contribution to treating hundreds of needy Syrians deserves no less praise and appreciation. The pro-regimists have no moral standing or high ground on this issue whatsoever. Far from condemning Benjamin Netanyahu for visiting wounded Syrians, the Assad supporters’ time would be better spent asking where their beloved leader has been hiding out these past months. It is shameful that Angelina Jolie has made more visits to Syrian camps and refugee hospitals than Assad and Asma have combined.

...
Maybe Barack Obama and the naysayers were right after all, maybe they knew us better than we knew ourselves. There are some Israelis and in the West who want nothing whatsoever to do with Syria and its problems, and statements like the SNC’s have validated their worse suspicions, that any Syrian opposition group the West helps are only going to be adversaries after the war. It is an unfortunate fact, that Israeli medical teams have done more for Syrians in the south of the country than all the opposition groups put together, to say nothing of the murderous regime that caused them to seek help in the first place.

...
Of course, nothing happens in the Middle East in a vacuum, and alot of other issues intrude to make any conflict that much more complicated. Some Syrians, and indeed Arabs, are of the opinion that one cannot reconcile even to the slightest degree with Israel and hope to remain loyal to our Palestinian brethren and their aspirations. Frankly, it would not be unfair to say that this sort of hardline stance is most popular among those who have in reality done crap-all in a practical sense for our Palestinian brethren. By all means, go and jump on the BDS bandwagon if it assuages your guilt, and I’m sure the fact that the BDSers have a very flexible and self-serving idea of who is worthy of a boycott makes it that much easier.

...When the war in Syria is over, one of the things that I as a (hopefully) former refugee would want to see addressed, is the disgraceful treatment of our Palestinian brothers and sisters in the Arab world. If it is solidarity with Palestinians that certain Arabs seek, then nothing can improve the Palestinians’ situation more quickly than by granting them the right to work, study, travel and private property ownership in the Arab countries they currently reside in. Because frankly, I doubt there is a single Palestinian in the Levant or North Africa who wouldn’t swap places with an Arab-Israeli in a heart beat.

....Personally, Israel’s kindness to Syrian refugees has demonstrated to me that Syrians and Israelis need not be adversaries in the future, that there is space and possibility for an accommodation on even the most seemingly intractable of issues. There is goodwill and humanity on the Israeli side, despite everything I have been taught to believe during my life.

I hope that in the future, those of the Syrian opposition who currently regard anything Israel does with hostility and suspicion, ask themselves what is to be gained by pandering to morally bankrupt pro-Assadists, whose beloved leader’s family could not, in forty years, regain the Golan Heights either through war or through negotiations. The whole point of an opposition is to give the country a different way of thinking. Knowing who our true friends are would be a good place to start.

(h/t Sarah)

02/20 Links Pt2: The ugly history of the Apartheid Smear; Lawsuit Threat to Oxfam over Terror links

From Ian:

The ugly history of the Apartheid Smear

Here, I want to say something about the revealing historical background to the apartheid smear. There have been three key moments. Each – whatever the sincere hopes of many of its supporters – was a cynical attempt to demonise Israel as a pariah state in order to prepare the ground for its eventual destruction.
The smear originated in "anti-Zionist" campaigns that were waged without let up by the Communist states during the Cold War. Seeking Arab allies, these campaigns frequently descended into antisemitism, the word "Zionist" understood by all as a fig-leaf for "Jew". Many ideas that have since spread around the world, especially amongst "progressives", began here: Zionism equals racism, Zionism equals imperialism. Israel is the USA's "watchdog" in the Middle East, Zionism is complicit with, or even promotes, antisemitism, and, of course, Zionism equals South African apartheid.

Following Scarlett Johansson Furor, Oxfam Threatened With Lawsuit for Providing Aid to Branches of Terror Group

Global charity Oxfam has been threatened with criminal and civil lawsuits for its funding of branches of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an internationally designated terror organization, Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center said in a statement on Thursday. The move comes just weeks after actress Scarlett Johansson ended ties with the charity over a difference of opinion regarding her role as an ambassador for Israeli company SodaStream.
Shurat HaDin, which “represents victims of Palestinian and Islamic terrorism in courtrooms around the world,” demanded that Oxfam sever its ties with the Union of Health Workers Committees (“UHWC”) and the Union of Agricultural Worker’s Committee (“UAWC”), two agencies of the terror organization which it said “were created by the PFLP” and “operate under the direct patronage and in close cooperation with the PFLP.”

Study: Arab-Israeli Conflict Source Of 85% Of World’s Bull$#!@ (satire)

The BS finds its way into the environment through such media as major news outlets that use the term “militant” instead of “terrorist,” for example, or “resistance to the occupation” instead of the more fact-based “attempts to destroy Israel.”
By far the most common type of this pollution involves the term “Palestinian,” a made-up nation with no discrete national history before the 1960′s except as derivative of Syrian, Jordanian, and Egyptian tribal loyalties. But other common types of BS can often outnumber those stool samples on any given day, such as the manifest misnomer “peace process” and an assumed “right” of return for Arab refugees. Still other common examples include “Israel’s blockade of Gaza,” which ignores the coastal strip’s border with Egypt; “1967 borders” as a reference to boundaries that were actually only a messily-defined ceasefire line from 1949, not a recognized national frontier; and anything that comes from a source that supports the BDS movement.

Hezbollah TV: Superman is a Jewish plot to take over the world!

From MEMRI:

According to an Al-Manar TV report, titled "Jews, Movies, Hollywoodism, and the American Dream" and broadcast on February 10, 2014, Hollywood was a Jewish invention, the goals of which were "to take over the greatest superpower in the world, to control all aspects of its daily life, and to harness it in the service of Jewish goals worldwide."

Following are excerpts:

Reporter: [The American Jews] felt rejected by real American society. Therefore, they tried to change society's opinion of them by inventing cinematic characters that would serve as role models. That's when it all began. Everybody wanted to be like Superman, the hero from outer space, who could not fit in society as Superman, so he invented a character that was better suited for American society – the feeble, bespectacled Clark Kent.

Farroukh Majidi, university professor and international photographer: If you hit the heart of somebody, the result is short term, but if you hit his brain, then the result is long term.

Reporter: Incidentally, Superman was invented by the Jew, Joe Schuster.

Farroukh Majidi: They try to make you believe that what you think comes out of yourself.

Reporter: Hollywood is a Jewish invention that changed the way Americans view America, and created dreams, rather than reality. They managed to make the Americans live the dream, divorced from reality. Undoubtedly, the goal was to take over the greatest superpower in the world, to control all aspects of its daily life, and to harness it in the service of Jewish goals worldwide. Whenever someone challenges this, Superman is ready to deal with him.

Farroukh Majidi: What is most dangerous is if you believe their culture. You should focus on that – not about a movie about a Jewish person who was the best, who was a savior, or a hero, or whatever. This is not going to touch us. What is touching us, what is ruining us, ruining our culture, is the penetration of their culture through mass media, through their movies, through this television. This is what we have to be aware of.
[…]
Reporter: The Jews consider [Carl] Laemmle to have saved hundreds of people from the so-called "Holocaust." "Schindler's List" is perhaps one move that implies this. This film was produced and distributed by Universal Studios.

Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Studios, renounced his German identity for the sake of his Jewishness. He made money and used it for the Jewish enterprise. He worked to keep Hollywood in Jewish hands only. This influence continues to this day.
[…]
Farroukh Majidi: I think we should think completely in another direction – to fight against what they want to do. Of course, this is their country, this is their culture, and they want to conquer all the world. As we want. But they know how to do it, and we don't.
[…]
With this technology, with this equipment, with this skillfulness of the people… In this way, you believe that they are different. They know exactly how to use it because they have a lot of specialists, who surround them for making a movie, and we don't have it. Just we think about the subject from a political point of view.

[…]

Jew-hating Arabs have managed to make a big deal over Jews peacefully visiting and praying in their holiest sites on the Temple Mount, the Kotel, the Tomb of Joseph and the Maarat HaMachpela. In each case the Muslims claim that these holy sites are really Islamic, and that the Jews are "usurping" them.

No human rights NGO has ever pushed back and said that Jews have the right to worship in their holy spots.

So this article in Egyptian daily Mesryoon - and at least five other Arabic newspapers - was inevitable.

Dozens of Israeli settlers on Thursday morning stormed the Bilal bin Rabah mosque north of the city of Bethlehem, claiming it is the site of "Rachel's Tomb", and they performed Talmudic rituals inside.

Local sources said that the settlers broke into the area near the Aida refugee camp, and performed provocative religious rituals inside, and that the settlers arrived by bus and were accompanied by patrols of the Israeli occupation.

They were there for several hours during which voices were heard screaming inside the mosque, while performing Talmudic rituals.

Sources reported that the mosque is located inside the wall of apartheid.

The settlers, under the pretext of performing Talmudic rituals, repeatedly desecrate the mosque.

There is no record of Rachel's Tomb being called the Bilal bin Rabah mosque before the 1990s. It is complete fiction. Muslims freely acknowledged that this was Rachel's Tomb, and called it Khirbet Rahil and other names with the word "Rachel" in Arabic.

The simultaneous publication of this news item - when Jews have been visiting Rachel's Tomb virtually every day for centuries except between 1948-1967 - indicates that Arab Muslims are preparing to expand their campaign of lies and slander against Jews and Judaism.

And yet, you will be hard pressed to find any "human rights" organization, or mainstream media fact checker, bothering to point out the obvious lies and antisemitism. Because Muslims are expected to lie, to make up history, to get their fiction to be labeled simply "their narrative" as if the truth and lies are interchangeable, and to usurp Jewish holy places.

Since Muslims are expected to act in reprehensible ways, why should anyone outside Jewish "fanatics" be bothered when they live up to expectations? In the twisted world we live in, only Jews are expected to act like human beings and to care about small matters like being honest with history.

02/20 Links Pt1: Jerusalem’s 90-Year-Old ‘Settlement’; State Dept. criticizes Erekat

From Ian:

Jerusalem’s Neve Yaakov: 90-Year-Old ‘Settlement’

Most of these neighborhoods were built and populated after Israel liberated them from largely unrecognized Jordanian control in the Six-Day War of 1967. Of course, they are all built upon the remains of ancient Jewish settlements, or have signs of Jewish life from the First or Second Temple periods. During the construction of Gilo, for instance, archaeologists discovered a fortress and other remains from the times of the first Beit HaMikdash, and a biblical town of Gilo, slightly further south, is mentioned in the Books of Joshua and Samuel II. In Talpiyot there have been discoveries of Second Temple-era graves, and winepresses, graves and more have been found under Pisgat Ze’ev.
But one of these neighborhoods stands out in this respect: The northernmost one, a fascinating area named Neve Yaakov – a full-fledged Jewish community up until 1948. Today it is once again a thriving neighborhood many times larger than it was several decades ago, with a population close to 30,000. Despite this, the Arabs claim that this old-new village is “illegal.
Modern-day Neve Yaakov was first established in 1924 on a 16-acre plot of land purchased by members of the American Mizrachi movement from the Arabs of Beit Hanina. First called Kfar Ivri, its name was soon changed to commemorate Mizrachi leader Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, who had died a decade earlier.

State Department Takes Issue with Erekat

The United States on Wednesday expressed concern over comments against Israel by the chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator, Saeb Erekat.
"We are of course concerned about the recent comments by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters, hinting that Secretary of State John Kerry would raise the issue during his meeting in Paris with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"We've said all along that it's important to create a positive atmosphere around these discussions. The personal attacks, quite frankly, are unhelpful, and the secretary will make clear that these kinds of comments are disappointing, that they are unhelpful, especially coming from someone involved in the negotiations, indeed the lead negotiator," said Harf.

Yes Mr. Erekat, Jesus was a Jew

The kindest thing one can say about Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian “negotiator,” is that he suffers, or pretends to suffer, from delusions or fantasies. How else can one explain his statement on January 31, 2014 at a conference in Munich when he specified the reason for the Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state? To do so, he said would be “asking me to change my narrative.”
That fabricated Palestinian narrative of victimhood has concocted hyperbolical and inaccurate commentaries about Middle East history and Israeli policies. Erekat has employed it, as so many other critics and boycotters of Israel have done, for political ends.

Q: What's the difference between BDS and terrorism? A: Nothing. (update)

While there is no single accepted definition of terrorism, the dictionary definition of terrorism is:

The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.

Terrorism's main purpose is to terrorize, to instill fear in a large population by attacking a relatively small number of people. That's why the threat of a "dirty bomb" is a perfect example of terror - in general, it wouldn't hurt very many people but it would cause panic, which would affect people's behavior.

When Palestinian Arab terrorist groups shoot rockets or send suicide bombers, the number of casualties is relatively small. But if you look at their media afterwards they exult on the larger effects that such actions cause even more than the direct damage. Every time the schools in Ashkelon are closed because of rocket threats, it is reported in the terrorist-leaning Arabic media as a victory. They love making videos showing Israelis running to shelter during Code Red alerts.

To terrorists, fear is the goal - causing panic among a large population by attacking a small number of people.

This story, which may or may not be true given its source*, gives a perfect example of how the goals of BDS are identical to the goals of terrorist groups:

Leading international companies bidding to build private seaports dropped out of the Israeli government’s tender due to concerns over the political repercussions, a report said on Tuesday.

The Israeli daily Haaretz said that Royal Boskalis Westminster, a Dutch operator of ports that had submitted a proposal under the name Holland Terminal in the prequalification stage last December, dropped out shortly thereafter. More recently, Italy’s Condote

Haaretz said that the companies that had initially expressed their interest in the PQ stage last April made their decisions to drop out in recent months as boycott pressure on Israel has grown. The deadline for submitting bids was Monday, the report said.

Notice the reasons given for this alleged dropping of bids. The companies didn't do it because of Israel's policies; they didn't do it for "moral" reasons, they didn't announce that they would never want to work with a country such as Israel because of its supposed mistreatment of Palestinian Arabs..

The story says that they dropped out because of fear that the boycott movement might attack them.

In other words - they were intimidated. They were coerced.

They were terrorized.

The same thing happens with the vast majority of the small number of popular music stars that have decided to cancel concerts in Israel. Except for a couple of hardcore haters like Roger Waters, the stars calculated that any controversy is toxic to their careers and therefore the effort is not worth it.

They, too, were terrorized.

The tactics of Palestinian terrorists are meant to create an environment of fear where Israelis must worry about possibly being attacked by a tiny number of people whose importance gets magnified by their methods. Ultimately, they want to create an environment where Jews would flee Israel because the fear outweighs the benefits of living there.

The tactics of the BDS supporters are also meant to create an environment of fear, where companies and public individuals will be afraid of a backlash from a similarly tiny number of noisy people who can create an impression of being much larger by targeted, noisy use of social media and protests. Ultimately, they want to create an environment where companies and entertainers and governments would abandon Israel because the fear of controversy outweighs the benefits of working with the most liberal and successful country in the region.

Neither side spends too much time trying to actually convince a larger audience of the righteousness of their cause, although they both try to pretend that they have the moral high ground. Both sides are obviously hypocritical. In both cases, the bulk of their time is spent trying to figure out how to cause the most fear in the people they are threatening. In both cases, they celebrate when the targets cave to their threats and change their behavior. Likewise, in both cases, they will make up fake "victories" and celebrate them, because when the goal is to terrorize innocents, perception is more important than truth.

BDSers and terrorists are identical in strategy, in their intent, and in their definitions of victory. The only difference are specific tactics (and the BDSers generally have no problem with terrorism as well, as their leaders have admitted.)

BDS is a terror movement. Its economic impact is negligible but that isn't what they are after - they want to terrorize companies and individuals by creating an atmosphere of coercion and fear. Their victims need to understand that they are being intimidated and coerced by people whose morality and goals are virtually indistinguishable from that of jihadists.

UPDATE: *Israel's Presspectiva proved my skepticism about Haaretz' reliability on stories like these. It is really a shame that their lying about stories they want to be true is so utterly predictable. (h/t Yenta)

Saudi Arabia confiscates dangerous soccer balls (with Israeli flag)

Arabic media are reporting that a soccer ball has been confiscated by Saudi authorities from a shop in Dammam.

The reason? Well, it's obvious:

The Saudi Ministry of Trade and Industry responded quickly on Sunday to a citizen complaint via Twitter about the sale of balls bearing the six-pointed star that symbolizes the flag of Israel.

Teams of of the Inspection and Control division at the Ministry confiscated the balls from the store located in Dammam.

"Activists' thanked the ministry for responding so quickly to what must apparently have been considered a threat to public mental health.

They are continuing their investigation of how such a horrendous thing could have happened.

A few years back, Muslims complained about a flag on soccer balls as well - but not the Israeli flag:

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.

The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.

The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.

So kicking the Saudi flag is offensive, but kicking the Israeli flag - a flag that is routinely stepped on in Arab countries - is offensive too.

Then again, the entire sport of soccer is a Zionist plot anyway.

Zarif blames "Zionists" for Lebanon bombing

Earlier Wednesday, UPI and others reported:

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday there is "no doubt" its rivals in Israel were behind twin bombings near the Iranian Cultural Center in Beirut.

At least five people were killed and another 80 wounded when twin explosions struck a Beirut neighborhood housing Iranian government entities, the Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon reported.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said mercenaries used by the Israeli government were behind the attack.

"There is no doubt that the agents behind the terrorist action in Beirut are enemies of Lebanon's stability, security and unity and are the hirelings of the Zionist regime who have been disappointed by the formation of a new government in the country," she said in a statement published by Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency.

It turns out that the "moderate" Iranian foreign Minister also blamed Israel for the bombings:

Zarif said that the terrorists involved in bombing are against stability, security and solidarity of the Lebanese nation and are puppets of the Zionist regime which has been disappointed by formation of the new Lebanese government with participation of all political parties.

As is often the case, the media waters down the news to maintain a false narrative. In this case, since Zarif has been heralded in the mainstream media as a moderate, intelligent, Westernized politician, editors are reluctant to ascribe insane Iranian statements to Zarif. When they mention them at all, they quote lower level officials or spokespeople.

Because the idea that the US negotiating partner is a hateful lunatic must not be publicized.

02/19 Links Pt2: Who Finances BDSM Against Israel?; Why Google loves Israel

From Ian:

Israelly Cool: Who Finances BDSM Against Israel?

Today in the Knesset there is a committee meeting session looking into the financing of the anti-Israel movements. Who pays for the kind of lies and propaganda that lead naive people (for example those in Australia who sell the Cinematic Strings software) to think that boycotting Israelis will somehow help Palestinians and lead to a better world.
The author, Edwin Black, has a book “Financing the Flames” discussing how tax exempt and public money fuel a culture of confrontation and terror in Israel. He’s appearing in front of the Knesset session today.

He appeared on Israeli TV (speaking in English) a few days ago: the introduction is in Hebrew but the main interview is all in English.

There's No Profit in Peace

I was in the Knesset today, listening to Edwin Black, author of Flanning the Flames.
He describes in his book that activists get paid more or only if there is violence that is worthy of being photographed and reported aborad to damage Israel's image, violence that is initiated and planned with malice aforethought by so-called "human rights campaigners". If there would be peace, no money for them.
He also pointed out that had the SodaStream factory and similar had been set up in Kosovo or Cambodia by church-affiliated groups, they may have won international recognition and gratitude for fostering peace and reconciliation. But the double standard is at work with Israel.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Unanimously Nominated to Chair UN Human Rights Committee Election

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, was unanimously nominated to chair a UN Human Rights Committee election on Tuesday, Israel’s UN mission said in a statement. 170 countries voted for Prosor, including members of the Arab bloc.
The selection of Israel’s representative to chair the vote, which was for one of the 18 positions on the Committee, is the latest sign of progress for Israel at the UN, a mission spokesperson told The Algemeiner. It comes just a short while after the Jewish State rejoined the Human Rights Council in Geneva and just days after Israel was admitted into JUSCANZ, the UN’s core coordinating group on human rights.

PA leader supports kidnapping Israeli soldiers

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Senior PA official and Deputy-Secretary of Fatah's Central Committee Jibril Rajoub said last month that the Palestinian Authority encourages Hamas to kidnap Israeli soldiers and hold them hostage in order to exchange them for the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Jibril Rajoub: "If Hamas wants to kidnap soldiers, let them kidnap soldiers. Let them kidnap. Let them kidnap if they [the Israelis] don't want to release prisoners, but want them as prisoners forever, so [the prisoners] will come out as ghosts and skeletons. The Israelis need to understand. It's clear that kidnapping is the language they understand. On the contrary, we encourage them [Hamas]. When they kidnapped [Gilad] Shalit, we congratulated them. When they concluded the Shalit [exchange] deal, in spite of our having a few reservations about it, we also congratulated them."
[Official PA TV, Jan. 2, 2014]