Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

06/11 Links Pt1: PA Paper: Netanyahu is “modern Shylock”; The End of the Sykes Picot Map

From Ian:

Even UN Resolution 242, which introduced the “land for peace” formula, calls on Israel to withdraw from “territories” – not all territories – in exchange for peace with its neighbors. It was clear to the international community immediately after the Six Day War that Israel would retain an undetermined portion of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
(Israel has since magnanimously ceded the Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, who have turned it into a reactionary Islamist state that uses violence to enforce Shari’a.) Far from “occupied,” the status of Judea and Samaria should enjoy a unique status in international law as land that has never been unequivocally set aside for a specific people by the international community.
Canberra has had the courage to publicly recognize this simple fact. What’s more, Bishop, Brandis and others in Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s center-right government understand that defining east Jerusalem as “occupied” hinders chances for peace by emboldening an intransigent, rejectionist Palestinian political leadership, whereas defining the territory as “disputed” might encourage a spirit of compromise on the part of the Palestinians.

Caroline Glick: Pragmatism, Obama and the Bergdahl swap

For nearly six years, Obama and his supporters have managed to fend off allegations that his foreign policy is even more ideological – and far more radical – than Bush’s by channeling the public’s aversion to pie-in-the-sky rhetoric and obfuscating facts. But the Bergdahl announcement at the Rose Garden ended all of that.
The reason Obama is being denounced for the Bergdahl swap is because he orchestrated a radical spectacle. Try as he may to castigate critics of the deal as partisan and cynical, Obama cannot pretend away the fact that the ceremony he arranged and oversaw was an open celebration of an American defeat, by the US president and the unsympathetic parents of an accused deserter.
And worse still for Obama’s protestations of pragmatism, his decision to take sole ownership of the swap revealed his ideological myopia. Only someone blinded by a worldview in which America is morally deficient could have thought that Americans would join him and the Bergdahls in celebrating an American defeat.
And now everyone knows what makes him tick.

Paris Jews Sprayed With Tear Gas a Week After Axe Attack

Two Jewish friends wearing yarmulkes were attacked in Sarcelles, a northern suburb of Paris, by three men seemingly of North African descent who sprayed the two friends with tear gas. The attack was captured on video surveillance revealed Monday.
The “anti-Semitic character of the attack has not been established,” said Sarcelles Mayor François Pupponi, The Jerusalem Post reported.
The attack comes a week after two Jewish teenagers reported being chased down the street by an axe-wielding assailant while they were on their way to the synagogue in Romainville, another Paris suburb, reported the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA).

Akiva Bigman at Mida magazine took the time to go through the "testimonies" of former IDF soldiers at the "Breaking the Silence" website, and finds that their worst stories don't come close to describing the IDF as being the monstrous abuser of human rights they pretend it is:

Most of the leading testimonies are downright disappointing. Almost all the cases we reviewed didn't involve physical harm or property damage. Most of them were fairly trivial, the kind of small-scale misconduct and rough behavior you might find in any large-scale policing operation: Prisoners who spent the night cuffed and on all fours and crying, a directive to check every vehicle coming out of Bethlehem and to "be tough" which caused a soldier to testify that "we were in this situation and it was very unpleasant", and another case where a female soldier mentioned a male counterpart at a checkpoint who would be rude in asking Palestinian commuters for cigarettes: "He didn't say: Pal, you've got a cigarette? He said: Give me a cigarette…he was in the mode of 'I'm the man' and the boss of this checkpoint.'

These kinds of cases constitute the overwhelming majority of testimonies on the site. This isn't admirable behavior, to be sure, but given how the IDF is often portrayed as the 21st century version of SS murder squads, we expected far worse.

When it comes to the minority of cases that actually involve killing, wounding or arresting suspects, we come across a troubling phenomenon. The testimonies on site deal with clear cut cases of anti-terror operations: killing terrorists, arresting of suspects, and activities involving prevention and interrogation, but this crucial context is nowhere to be seen in the Breaking the Silence testimonies. Breaking the Silence prefer to hide the actual reason for the IDF's actions, as well as the severity of the terror threat and the difficult conditions under which Israeli security forces have to work. Thus, the naïve reader unaware of all this receives a simplistic, lachrymose and superficial account with "jackbooted" soldiers and oppressed Palestinians. In this agitprop morality play, enthusiastically supported by foreign countries and the world media, there is no place for little things like context and facts.

Take the story of Fathi Najar, commander of the Fatah military wing in Yatta in the Hebron Governate, who was arrested in 2002 for involvement in terrorist attacks and laying explosive devices against IDF soldiers.

According to the testimony of a soldier present at the capture, some of the soldiers and commanders beat him after the arrest, as an act of release for capturing such a senior terrorist and after putting their lives at significant risk. These actions so shocked the soldier that he felt burdened until his discharge and he went running to Breaking the Silence to tell his story. Granted this behavior was wrong – but can one really draw a line between some blows to an arch-murderer really prove the 'monstrously corrosive effects of the occupation'?

Another soldier testified that they executed a "kill confirmation" on armed terrorists: "It was surprising and frustrating. Surprising because for instance [a commander] shot a terrorist who was walking around with an AK-47 and a cellphone and didn't know he was thirty meters from the IDF. He shot him at center mass and he fell, then they threw two grenades at him to ensure that he was dead." According to the testimony, in the after action inquiry, the brigade commander instructed the soldiers how such an encounter should end: "You come to the body, put a rifle between his teeth and fire," something which at the time was defined as illegal.

Let's be honest here: are we supposed to be shocked by this? Putting aside PC sanctimony, let's admit that such a brigade commander, who puts a premium on his soldiers' lives and doesn't want to take the chance that the terrorist make a final pull of the trigger or detonate an explosive belt to take out the arresting soldiers, is far from outside the pale of humanity. Let us remind the choir of Breaking the Silence, that these are soldiers fighting dangerous terrorists in armed combat, not uninvolved civilians playing chess.

...More than that: the average reader abroad might be surprised to learn that even pinpoint surgical operations, meant to minimize harm to uninvolved civilians while risking IDF soldiers, also worry Breaking the Silence. In one of the testimonies, a soldier complained that the IDF conducts ground operation to take out terrorists when it is not possible to eliminate them from the air, as "they are at home with too many people, or in cases where more care is required, it's not possible to drop a one-ton bomb." So what exactly is the problem? "Many times [in these action] there are additional casualties [aside from the terrorist himself]." This specific soldier admits that it didn't happen in operations he was involved in, but he "believes" it happened in other cases.

If there is any moral outrage to be had here, it is that the IDF is risking its troops to avoid civilian casualties when pinpoint strikes from the air could do the job just as well. But Breaking the Silence complains even when the IDF does this – and even when there are no civilian casualties.

...Here's the kicker: Breaking the Silence isn't really interested in human rights or military ethics. They're interested in something else entirely: opposing the "occupation" and ending it come hell or high water. They openly acknowledged this agenda: a Breaking the Silence spokesmen stated that "Breaking the Silence is not a normal human rights organization. We are in fact an educational organization, whose purpose is to show the Israeli public the reality of the occupation. This is what ruling over a foreign population looks like." ...

As Haaretz military correspondent Amos Harel put it:

They have a clear political agenda, which is no longer really covered under the term 'human rights organization'.

The truth is that none of this should be surprising. As an organization receiving massive amounts of money from foreign, largely European, countries (1.3 million NIS in 2011), Breaking the Silence is committed first and foremost to the interests of its patrons. What better way to satisfy them than to present the IDF as the reincarnation of 20th century fascist thugs?

In spite of all this, it's good we have Breaking the Silence. Whoever reads their testimonies with a careful and critical and critical eye will actually have reason to take heart. If this is the best Breaking the Silence can find after ten years of activity and millions of dollars, making every effort to single out the worst possible incidents and interpreting them in the most malicious possible way, with no serious comparison to other armies and with partial information and testimonies, then the IDF comes off looking just like the evil hasbaraniks say it is – a profoundly moral army in very difficult circumstances.

Israel adheres to "Islamic values" more than any Muslim or Arab country

From The Irish Times:

The country in the world most faithful to the values of the Koran is Ireland according to an Iranian-born academic at George Washingon University in the US. Next are Denmark, Sweden and the UK.

In a BBC interview, Hossein Askari, Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University said a study by himself and colleague Dr Scheherazde S Rehman, also rates Israel (27) as being more compliant with the ideals of the Koran than any predominantly Muslim country.

Not a single majority Muslim country made the top 25 and no Arab country is in the top 50.

He said that when their ‘Islamicity index’ was applied only Malaysia (33) and Kuwait (42) featured in its top 50 countries, compared to the US at 15, the Netherlands also at 15, while France is at 17.

Saudi Arabia rated 91st, with Qatar at 111st.

In carrying out the study, they applied the ideals of Islam in the areas of a society’s economic achievements, governance, human and political rights, and international relations, he said.

On that index “Muslim countries do very badly,” he said and accused them of using religion as an instrument of power.

Last November Prof Askari said that “we must emphasize that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.”

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings - Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.

In their ‘Overall Islamicity Index’, a measure that encompasses laws and governance, human and political rights, international relations, and economic factors, “the rankings are much the same: New Zealand, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands; and again only Malaysia (38) and Kuwait (48) make it into the top 50 from Muslim countries,” he said.

I don't think this study has been published yet, but I found the previous 2010 Islamicity Economic Index study by the same team, which also ranked Israel at 27, ahead of every Muslim and Arab country.

I am not qualified enough to know whether the values they claim are Islamic are, in fact, the complete set of values mentioned in the Koran. A study like this might sound scientific but ultimately it rests on its assumptions. They list 12 "Islamic economic principles" like "Economic Opportunity And Economic Freedom," "Justice in all aspects of economic management i.e. property rights and the sanctity of contracts," "Higher education expenditures relative to GDP including equal access to education," "A more even distribution of wealth and income" and "Better social infrastructure and provision of social services through taxation and social welfare." It is easy to see how the personal feelings of the researchers, who are both apparently Western Muslims, might influence their criteria for what are considered "Islamic values" as well as which Islamic values they choose to exclude. If these basic assumptions are incorrect, then no matter how rigorous the rest of the study is, it is worthless.

To take one example, slavery is permitted in the Koran. Masters are allowed to have sex with not only their slaves but also with female captives of war - with or without their consent. In other words, raping female slaves and captives is quite permitted as a Muslim ethical standard. Again, I am not an expert so I don't know the limitations of these laws under Sharia, if any, - Wikipedia doesn't list any significant limitations - but I highly doubt that any Western Muslim academic would count slavery and even limited rape of slaves as an "Islamic principle" that should be listed in a study like this. If the study only picks and chooses which Islamic principles are relevant, then it doesn't accurately represent Islamic principles.

I doubt too many non-Muslim economists or international relations scholars are qualified to challenge their basic assumptions of what values are considered "Islamic" so no real critiques are possible. In a sense, papers like these could be used as a whitewash of Islam as a political philosophy, and that is a danger that needs to be called out.

(I am very sensitive to nuances of religion, and I have seen Judaism attacked as a religion that allows battlefield rape by haters with an antisemitic agenda. I'm basing my assumption that Islam allows raping captives and slaves - both are identical in Islam - on Wikipedia articles that appear to be fairly well-sourced. Source-based corrections more than welcome. Also, if someone would write an academic paper ranking nations against Jewish principles, I would have the same issues as to methodology. I doubt that anyone would, though.)

Not surprisingly, when this story was reported by OnIslam.net, Israel's rankings are ignored.

(h/t billposer)

It's time for Hamas summer camp!

Here are photos from this year's Hamas summer camp in Gaza:

There is a definite "fire" theme going on here.

Anyway, this is an excuse for me to again trot out my classic Gaza summer camp song parody originally written in 2008.

(h/t Bob Knot)

06/10 Links Pt2: Dr. King's pro-Israel Legacy; My own Jihad on “Stop the Occupation” Web Pages

From Ian:

Dr. King's pro-Israel Legacy (in 5 minutes) (h/t ProIsraelBayBloggers

Down the Middle East Memory Hole

In presenting his case that Israel is very far from being a colony, Friedman may be seen as offering a strong refutation to Ari Shavit’s showy “confession” in My Promised Land that Israel is indeed guilty of the sin of colonialism: the very sin so frequently invoked by its enemies to vilify and delegitimize it. For these enemies, the idea that Jews are native to the region is inadmissible—intolerable. And therein lies a clue both to their expunging of any memory of their own Jews and to their obsessive fixation on the un-erasable affront embodied in the existence of the Jewish state.
For what is it that really delegitimizes Israel in the eyes of its detractors? Why is the BDS movement so set against it, and not against, for example, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, to say nothing of Turkey, all of which occupy territories hastily cobbled together into states by the Treaty of Versailles and/or the disappearance of the colonial system—and all of which behave reprehensibly toward their remaining non-Arab, non-Islamic, and non-Turkic minorities? The answer is so obvious that I hesitate to put it in words. (h/t Norman F)

My own Jihad on “Stop the Occupation” Facebook Pages

It all started when I made up an alias facebook account so I could say what I really wanted to on Israeli news and Pro-Israel pages. Dare I say, maybe even this very one? Being right-wing when it comes to Israel, I didn’t have the desire to sift through anti-Semitic hate messages to my personal account. It’s funny how some leftist “humanitarians” spew the most venom at complete strangers with whom they don’t agree with. I decided to go undercover in my quest to spread the truth and confirm it for myself.
The truth is a very touchy subject when it comes to Israel. No one wants to hear it. No one wants to face it. To my surprise, I received much support for my blunt and honest statements. People were glad someone finally said what they wanted to say but felt they couldn’t. It’s hard to in this sugar-coated politically correct day-and-age. I decided to go onto Pro-Palestinian or rather Israeli-hate pages and enlighten them. That lasted about half a day before I was kicked out of all of them. Not for Muslim bashing, but for having another opinion. The “Free-Gaza” and “Stop the Occupation” activists don’t really like other opinions besides their own or actual facts. Truth seekers they are not. They want to play the victim and keep it that way. You may think facebook pages are nothing to worry about, yet these groups are in the thousands, which represent the millions. They create events and incite violence. They are not just a reflection of hate but the activists of it.
I could have stopped there, but what I saw on those pages drove me further in. I will discuss my other persona I used later. I was not shocked at the photoshoped images taken out of context with blatant false information as headlines. I was not shocked at the despicable hatred towards Israelis, specifically Jews. Yes, young Muslim’s living in America still refers to Jews as descendents of Apes and Pigs. I wasn’t even shocked at the thousands who joined these pages or hundreds of likes on pictures supporting terrorism. People justified the killing of Israeli children in the name of “resistance”. What did surprise me (from reading people’s comments) was how many actually believed the complete and utter hate propaganda.

"Unity government" calls to kill Jewish civilians, West forced to stay quiet

The world is happy to pretend that Hamas joining the PA is not a problem at all, and in fact its a good thing:

A top UN envoy has met with four ministers of the new Palestinian unity government in the formerly Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, assuring them of United Nations support, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso told an Israeli security conference on Sunday that Palestinian unity deal with the Islamist Hamas movement must be supported.

“In the interest of a future peace deal and of a legitimate and representative government, intra-Palestinian reconciliation... should be supported,” Barroso told delegates at a conference in the coastal city of Herzliya.

In fact, this support of a unified Hamas/Fatah government is effectively the legitimization of terrorism.

If the world wants to embrace Hamas as part of the Palestinian Arab leadership, that means that it is embracing this:

Hamas has called on members of its armed wing in the West Bank to target Israeli soldiers
and civilians in a bid to ease the plight of its prisoners in Israeli jails, a party spokesman said on Monday.

“We call on the men of resistance in the West Bank, primarily the Al-Qassam Brigades, to fulfill their duty in protecting the prisoners on hunger strike by targeting the occupation soldiers and its settlers,” Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran wrote on his Facebook page Monday.

“The occupation must pay a high price in the blood of its soldiers and settlers until it is persuaded to solve the issue of prisoners on hunger strike. This is everyone’s task, on the individual and organizational levels,” he wrote.

If Hamas is part of the government, a statement like this must be immediately condemned not only by the UN and EU and US but by the PA itself.

But it won't be. It will be ignored by the world community, not wanting to embarrass Abbas into publicly pretending he is against terrorism, which would jeopardize the "unity" government that embraces.... terrorism.

So not only is "unity" with Hamas the antithesis of peace, it also creates a scenario where public incitement to terror is tacitly accepted by the supposedly progressive EU and UN. Before, the West could brush off such statements as just the rantings of a terrorist organization; by ignoring them now the West is effectively saying that the PA government can legitimately hold such positions.

The same people who fall over themselves to condemn the horror of an Israeli government agency approving a possible stage in the building of some houses in a few years are utterly silent when representatives of the Palestinian government calls for terror attacks (and keep in mind that to Hamas, all Israelis are "settlers.") Priorities, you know.

The real fruit of "unity" is the mainstreaming and acceptance of Palestinian terrorism in the world community.

(h/t Josh K)

"Breaking the Silence" silences IDF soldier (video, now with subtitles)

From Arutz-7:

Far-left anti-IDF group Breaking the Silence received a taste of its own tactics on Friday, after a nationalist from the Samaria Residents' Council "participated" in a "witness testimony" propaganda event.

Breaking the Silence events usually feature "testimony" from (alleged) former IDF soldiers, who spin personal stories about the Israeli military's activities in Judea and Samaria. Accusations usually include systemized abuse of Palestinian Arab prisoners, racism, and more, and are rarely if ever substantiated.

But on Friday, one activist - Tamir Yacobi from the grassroots Samaria Resident's Council, which aims to protect and empower Jewish Samaria residents - decided to present testimony of his own, crashing a "Breaking the Silence" event in Tel Aviv.

Yacobi begins to laud the IDF, and the humane way it treats Palestinian Arab terrorists while they are in Israeli detention.

"I enlisted in 2006, to the Armored Corps, to the 75th Battalion of the illustrious 7th Brigade, which took part in many famous battles, and participated at all of Israel's wars," Yacobi stated. "The Brigade is also known as 'Storm from the Golan'. After we enlisted, we were imbued with the IDF fighting spirit, and told of heroic deeds and fierce battles. I thought I would be honored to serve my country in that brigade."

Yacobi is then seen being interrupted and escorted offstage by security personnel from Breaking the Silence, who are heard telling him that "there is a line" for dedicated speakers and that he was breaking the rules.

Here is the full statement Yacobi intended to say, and that Breaking the Silence wanted silenced.

... From time to time, we were switched to Infantry duty, patrolling various points in Israel. Our patrols caught quite a few Palestinians attempting to cross from the Palestinian Authority areas into Israel.

I can never forget seeing them for the first time... they were just sitting there, in the holding cells, their eyes covered and their hands tied. I was just a young soldier. So I asked one our sergeants, 'what are you going to do with them?' He looked at me with empty eyes and said: 'Nothing, we're transferring them to the Police or to the Border Police.' I could not imagine what they would suffer there...

That was, before I discovered that they would be held for three days, and then set free. In fact, before we transferred them to the police, we provided them with blankets and food, and even cigarettes…

Are you getting that?! These people, who did not cross the border for nothing, some of whom may well have been bent on murder, just because their victims belong to a different nationality, as did the Nazis and before them the Crusaders, would be returned safely to their homes!

However, their intention did not prevent me, or any other IDF soldier, from providing them with all of the human rights they are entitled to. And we do that, knowing that there is a good possibility that one of them could be a heinous terrorist bent on slaughtering me – me, the one that calls you brothers and sisters – or your children and your families.

And that is the virtue that makes the IDF the most moral army of the world, and turns you people into hypocrites tainted with anti-Semitism that try to besmirch the most moral army in the world with lies and slander.

But here, at least, your attempt to use the IDF as a pawn in your political game didn't succeed. And you know why? Because we Israelis know the truth full well, and we know who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys. And you? Have you understood that yet?

(h/t Yoel)

06/10 Links Pt1: Report Debunks Killed in ‘Cold-Blood’ Claim; The Palestinians’ Self-Inflicted Tragedy

From Ian:

Report Debunks ‘Cold-Blood’ Claim on Palestinian Deaths

Israelis, Erekat said, “killed 66 Palestinians in cold blood” since negotiations started last summer. A new report, however, investigates the backgrounds of those killed, finding that a majority were members of radical terrorist organizations.
B’Tselem, an Israeli monitoring group, lists 43 Palestinians who were killed by the IDF from August 2013 through the end of March. In his report, Lt. Col (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, finds an overwhelming majority of those killed were combatants from radical Islamist terrorist organizations.
Those terrorist groups include Hamas and its al-Qassam Brigades military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades (Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing), al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (Fatah’s military wing), the al-Qaeda associated Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
It is important to note that the nine people who were not affiliated with an organization were killed in response to standard military procedures. Three were killed as they approached a military outpost at the Gaza border and three others were killed participating in violent demonstrations. After firing at an IDF force, another Palestinian man was killed, and another instance included a woman shot by return IDF fire following an initial escalation of violence emanating from Gaza.

Controversial show on Jewish ties to Israel finally goes on display

A UNESCO exhibition on the history of the Jewish people’s ties to the Land of Israel will open Wednesday in Paris, six months after its originally scheduled debut had been canceled on short notice due to pressure from Arab member states.
The exhibit, entitled “People, Book, Land: The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land,” was authored by Israeli historian Robert Wistrich for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which partnered with UNESCO on the initiative.
On Wednesday afternoon, Wistrich and several representatives of the Wiesenthal Center, will be hosted by French President Francois Hollande in the Elysee Palace, a few hours before the exhibition will be ceremoniously opened in the presence of some 300 diplomats and other dignitaries.

No End to the Palestinians’ Self-Inflicted Tragedy

The very existence of naqba commemorations is therefore instructive in a way few realize. It informs us that Palestinians have not admitted or assimilated the fact – as Germans and Japanese have done – that they became victims as a direct result of their efforts to be perpetrators.
It informs us that Palestinians would still like to succeed today at what they miserably failed to achieve then.
And it informs us that they take no responsibility for their own predicament, which is uniquely maintained to this day at their own insistence.
If readers doubt this, consider the following vignette: in January 2001, John Manley, then-foreign minister in Jean Chretien’s Canadian government, offered to welcome Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Canada. The Palestinian response? Mr. Manley was burned in effigy by Palestinian rioters in Nablus, and Palestinian legislator Hussam Khader of Fatah – not Hamas or another of the Islamist groups –declared, “If Canada is serious about resettlement, you could expect military attacks in Ottawa or Montreal.” A similar offer by then-Australian Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock also received a threatening Palestinian rejoinder.
Why this astounding response by a government official to an offer of refugee relief? Because establishing a Palestinian state and resettling the refugees and their descendants inside it or abroad would remove any internationally accepted grounds for conflict. That’s why helping to solve the Palestinian refugee problem is regarded as a hostile act – by Palestinians.

Nike short film has Star of David-like logo on bad guys

Nike released a short film yesterday that already has millions of views. As Adweek describes it:

The concept is that mad scientists have created clone versions of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, Franck Ribery, David Luiz and Tim Howard. The human versions, you see, take too many risks on the field, and their percentage chances for success aren't great (prior evidence notwithstanding, apparently). The clones, meanwhile, precise and machinelike in their decision making, have been engineered to take no risks (the Germans have perfected this, of course, but never mind) and are ready to stomp on their frail human opponents with ruthless mathematical efficiency.

Thus, events are set in motion that lead to the ultimate showdown—as Nike calls it, "The Last Game." This isn't just a football match. It's Deep Blue vs. Kasparov for the future of world football.

Here are the cyborgs, with their uniforms:

OK, I understand that the logo represents a soccer ball. I can also understand that the creators of the video would choose the most symmetric, machine-like representation for their design.

But didn't anyone at Nike over the past several months of development look at it and notice that it is also essentially a Star of David?

Like this...

Did no one at Nike think to rotate the logo 30 degrees, so no one would associate the Jewish star with the inhuman, heartless, cyborg players?

(This is an example of the figure-ground optical illusion, where you can see one image or the other, but not both.)

(h/t Manny)

Yesterday I reported - probably exclusively - that the Waqf was setting up a summer camp on the holy ground of the Temple Mount, as they have for several years, where Muslim kids would learn arts and crafts and play sports.

Today, Palestine Today writes that Israeli police barred campers and counselors as well as others from entering the compound, setting up barricades at the entrances.

I don't know if this will become a new policy. The reports before the holiday of Shavuot where it looked like the police would allow Jews exclusive access for parts of the holiday apparently never happened. And without a consistent policy these moves are almost worthless, as they appear arbitrary rather than principled. Without consistency the Muslim leaders just conclude that they need to make more noise and threats and riots in order to sway Israeli authorities to bend to their will.

In what is almost certainly an example of projection, the report claimed that the police hurled "insults and abuse and threats of beatings and detention."

Orryia Kohen noted in the comments:

I work at the Western Wall, and just recently learned that people aren't allowed to bring into the area guitars (or any other musical instruments). People coming to attend a military swearing-in ceremony weren't even allowed to bring helium balloons, because it is deemed disrespectful. I think a summer camp would be kicked out of the area in five minutes.

Hamas and Fatah "unity" troubles increase

YNet reports:

Palestinian forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas have clashed with Hamas supporters late on on Monday despite a unity deal between the two rivals, witnesses said.

The confrontation was the latest sign reconciliation efforts are in trouble.

Police broke up a Hamas rally in the West Bank late on Monday. Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader, said officers stopped a convoy of 30 cars, seized Hamas banners and beat him and other protesters as well as journalists.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas has kept the banks closed for the seventh consecutive day not allowing any workers to receive their salaries - or even the families of terrorists from receiving their "salaries." Hamas is closing the banks because Abbas refuses to pay the 50,000 or so Hamas workers who took over the jobs of Fatah workers who were forced out in the Hamas Gaza coup. (The Fatah workers continued to draw salaries for years even when they weren't working.)

Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said yesterday that his movement should repudiate the reconciliation agreement. In regards to the bank crisis in Gaza, he asked how the new "unity" government could pay the absent Fatah workers and stop paying the Hamas workers who are actually working.

Short film to scare Arab Israelis away from joining the IDF

Apparently, Palestinian Arabs are very nervous about giving their own people freedom of choice.

As we've mentioned many times, Arab leaders are against any Palestinian Arabs voluntarily choosing to become citizens of any country - Arab or non-Arab.They want them to remain stateless, because if they decide to improve their lives, they will no longer be pawns in the power games of Palestinian politics.

Here's a new example. Israel has stated that it wants to recruit, on a voluntary basis, Arabs who do not have to serve.

In Israel, army service is important for getting jobs later in life, both because of the practical experience that many soldiers get but also because of the informal networking that inevitably follows army service. Besides that, some Israeli Arabs feel loyalty to their country and they actually want to serve.

This is causing panic among the Palestinian Arab elites who fear that their little empires will be destroyed without an artificially created unity, enforced by their own policies that keep their people miserable and take away freedom of choice for their people, freedom to work together with Israeli Jews to build a better Middle East.

This new video, ironically, claims that Israel is doing the brainwashing by allowing Arabs the freedom to choose whether to serve in the IDF or not. That freedom is anathema to Palestinians: (turn on closed-captioning)

So who is guilty of brainwashing?

Look how Electronic Intifada characterizes this piece of agitprop:

A new dark, psychological short film by Nadim Hamed produced by Eyad Barghouti in cooperation with the Palestinian civil society groups 7amleh and Baladna makes a bold statement against Israel’s latest attempts to enlist Palestinian citizens of Israel in the occupation army.

Project X features Samer Bisharat (star of Oscar-nominated Omar) as a youth who is brainwashed into serving in the army. But instead of gaining the privileges promised by a Palestinian collaborator, the young man realizes only devastating psychological and social costs as a result of his choice to serve.

The artistically potent short takes up one of the most pressing issues facing the nearly 1.7 million Palestinian citizens of Israel who face daily systematic discrimination from education to employment and severe restrictions on land ownership.

You see? In the haters' logic, by trying to eliminate discrimination, Israel is causing discrimination!

Who really wants equal rights for Arabs in Israel? Clearly, not the people who made this film. Clearly, not the self-proclaimed arbiters of what a "good" Palestinian must do at Electronic Intifada.

06/09 Links Pt2: Red Cross Betrays Its Role - What HaAretz Refused to Print; Code Pink's BDS Fail

From Ian:

The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] Betrays Its Role — What HaAretz Refused to Print

I think that Art 49:1 sufficiently defines the meaning of transfer for the purpose of the whole article. The authors of Geneva 4 most likely did not think it necessary to repeat the adjective “forcible” in the subsequent paragraphs of Article 49. Moreover, trying to claim a non-forcible form of transfer is seeking to force a definition.
Moreover, since Article 49 and indeed all of Geneva Convention 4 are concerned to protect those upon whom forbidden actions would be practiced, then the people upon whom transfer and deportation are practiced are the ones to whom Article 49 extends its protection, the transferees and deportees. This does not include the pre-war residents of the occupied territory who are protected in various ways by other parts of Geneva Convention 4.
The ICRC changed its interpretation of Geneva 4:49:6 after the Six Day War in order to fit in with the mood of international anti-Israel hatred. This is pointed out in the letter below sent by me to HaAretz but not published. The unpublished letter below applies just as well to Anton Camen’s recent op ed in the Jerusalem Post as it does to Jakob Kellenberger’s piece in HaAretz in 2002:

The Horror of Holocaust Denial

Over the last few weeks, the Holocaust has appeared surprisingly often in the news. In most cases, the reason has been the surprising degree of ignorance or denial that so many people have about this cataclysmic event. The most disheartening reports have addressed the role of educators in spreading misinformation. Worse, they have illustrated that Holocaust denial is not just an ordinary form of ignorance but rather a modern cloak for the return of old-fashioned anti-Semitism.
The Anti-Defamation League’s much-heralded ADL Global 100 survey showed that 35% of adults worldwide have never heard of the Holocaust. Of those who have heard of it, 21% think it was a myth or exaggeration. One may quibble about the ADL survey’s methodology, but this study presents the best available evidence that we have about global attitudes. This revelation has been accompanied by three disturbing recent stories over the last few weeks.

Holocaust denier’s invitation to concentration camp memorial nixed after media exposé

German journalist Christoph Hörstel, a zealous supporter of Iran’s regime and Hezbollah and an alleged denier of the Holocaust, was invited to an event at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp to commemorate the July 20, 1944, attempt to assassinate Hitler by German officers.
German author Tilman Tarach reported on Friday about the slated event on the website of the Berlin-based Jungle World weekly, causing organizers of the Sachsenhausen memorial to cancel Hörstel’s appearance the same day.
The planned participation of Hörstel showed that Germany’s remembrance culture had “gone to the dogs,” Tarach said. Organizers turned victims into perpetrators with the “planned event of a Holocaust- denier or relativist,” he wrote.

Al Azhar University condemns a rabbi

On Monday, Rabbi Yehuda Glick went to the Temple Mount. His presence reportedly caused a near riot.

According to the Al Aqsa Foundation, he and 13 "settlers" actually went up to the Dome of the Rock, which seems highly unlikely (we've seen Moshe Feiglin do this but the vast majority of religious Jews would not go there because of its extreme sanctity.)

His presence caused the Muslims there to supposedly force him and the other Jews out of the complex. They claim he was insulting them (which, in their minds, he probably was - by standing there.)

The Al Aqsa Foundation issued a press release criticizing Glick, and this got picked up by Al Azhar University - the most prestigious Sunni institute of Koran study. Al Azhar issued its own statement:

Al-Azhar strongly denounced here today Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Glick's breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Mughrabi Gate and ascension to the perimeter of the dish of the Dome of the Rock, accompanied by a group of Jewish settlers and guarded by special units of the Israeli police.

Al-Azhar's Sharif warned in a statement of the severe consequences of the recurrence of such aggressive acts that contribute to the breach of security and peace in occupied Palestine and hamper efforts dedicated to a just peace.

The statement called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League and the international community to take a firm stand against these provocative practices and prevent their recurrence in the future.

This is the first tme I've seen Al Azhar join this particular bandwagon of antisemitic hysteria.

Beitunia Pallywood again: The injury of Mohammed Azza/Azi/Aziz (update)

The HRW report I mentioned earlier today does shed light on something: the time of the shooting of the injured youth Mohammed Azza.

HRW says:

Israeli forces shot and wounded Azza in the chest at around 12:20 p.m., about 15 meters from where Nawareh and Salameh were later fatally shot, Azza’s father and a witness told Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch has not seen any video footage of Azza at the time he was shot. Azza stated he was not throwing rocks at that time.

...According to the reports, Azza suffered a gunshot injury to the left anterior chest wall and the left lung.

We have video from Camera 2 of Azza apparently being shot:

Starting from 12:20:00 on the security cam (37:20 of the video) you can see Azza moving towards the lower right side of the view, right next to a burning tire. He is hurling lots of stones, breaking some into smaller pieces on the ground.

Now that we have established how truthful Azza is in his testimony, we can go on.

At 12:20:42 on the CCTV time we see Azza suddenly crouch and turn - again, completely inconsistent with being shot in the chest with live fire, but possibly consistent with being hit with a rubber bullet. Two Arab girls in the lower right of the screen barely flinch at the sound, and continue to walk into the apparent line of fire, unconcerned.

Azza staggers back north, where he is quickly aided by a few people who help bring him to an ambulance.

There are photos of, supposedly, Azza with what appears to be a lot of blood. (I am not sure at what point he loses his light colored top/scarf.)

At least one photo appears to have been retouched, though. Here is the first one from the photographer's Facebook page:

Here's the version from Palestine News Network:

That is very bright blood, especially on dark clothing.

In the video, no blood is apparent on the street after the shooting. Still, this photo of him being carried to the ambulance seems to show blood on the carrier's jeans.

HRW's account is wildly different from the "eyewitnesses" that they love to quote. Mohammed told The Guardian that he was shot in the back, not the chest.

Fakher Zayed in the same Guardian video says that he witnessed three youths get shot: first one in the chest, the second in the back, and the third in an unspecified area, a half hour after the second. Since Nawareh was facing south and Salameh was facing north, and Azi was according to the video and HRW hit 85 minutes before Nawareh, none of what Zayed says squares with the facts (unless there was a mystery fourth incident.)

Azza's account of the events to The National is also utterly inconsistent with his statements elsewhere and with the video:

“The protest wasn’t so big when we got there [at about 10.30am], there were only around 70 boys and four soldiers who were shooting rubber bullets and tear gas. When we went to the front, everyone was moving fast and throwing rocks. I was looking directly at a soldier under the vine tree and I wasn’t moving,” Mohammed recalls, sitting next to his father in their detached home.

“Then I heard the sound of the rifle. I thought it was a rubber bullet but then I felt something burning inside me. I started running with some of the other guys and they told me that I had been shot in my back. Some people picked me up and carried me to the ambulance.”

So he was looking directly at the soldier who shot him and he was shot in the back? He started running with them even though no one is seen on the video?

None of this bothers Human Rights Watch. HRW says that Azza suffered wounds "to the chest" but then later says that "Mohammed Azza, 15, told Human Rights Watch that Israeli forces shot him in the back earlier during the protests." So HRW, trying to square the accounts, instead of showing skepticism over Azza's words compared to the medical report, seems to be claiming that Azza was shot twice!

The accounts are absurdly inconsistent, and they do not jive with the video at the moment that HRW says the event occurred, but HRW just shrugs and insists Israel shot him with live fire in the chest, causing him to...crouch down and run under his own power.

Here is the supposedly critically wounded Azza, smiling for the camera in a photo posted on the day after the incident:

And here is is five days later:

I have no idea what really happened at 12:20 PM on May 15. I do know that Azza is lying, big time, about what he was doing at the time, as are all the other "eyewitnesses" and his family. Based on his reaction and the reaction of the passersby, I think it is highly unlikely that he was hit by a live bullet.

More importantly, Human Rights Watch also has no idea what really happened - but that doesn't stop them from pushing their own theories as if they are fact.

(h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE: I wrote this based on HRW's time of 12:20 for the incident. But DCI is claiming that they have a CAM 3 view of the incident that happened around 13:00. (Conveniently, we don't have CAM 1 footage at 13:00, it starts at 13:04, and that's the highest quality camera.)

Someone is wrong.