Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, November 29, 2014

The saga of the Israeli "Arab Idol" contestant

Last Saturday, one of the two contestants for "Arab Idol" who have Israeli citizenship lost the competition when she gathered the lowest number of votes:

Manal Mousa, an Israeli contestant on the Arab world's premier singing competition, was eliminated on Saturday's live-performance episodes.

The judges of Arab Idol were shocked by Mousa's elimination, and she thanked them graciously for their support before turning to her political message. "I want to pass a message for the yellow journalism that fought me – I am Palestinian and Palestinian blood flows through me."

She had made a number of anti-Israel statements during her competition:

Mousa, a 27-year-old resident of Deir Al-Assad in northern Israel, set off massive shockwaves with her statements during her time on Arab Idol, as she took to Facebook to demonstrate her pro-Palestinian credentials.

Mousa called Khair Hamdan, the Kafr Kanna who was killed by Israeli police officers, a "martyr" and encouraged protests and demonstrations across the Arab sector. "Palestine is revolting, Israeli Arabs are revolting, Kafr Kanna is revolting," she wrote.

But it seems that one reason she lost is because Arabs were starting rumors that she was pro-Israel!

After Israel's Arabic spokesman Avichai Adraee noted that Israel allowed the two Israeli contestants to travel to Lebanon to compete in the show. This apparent "support" by Israel for the contestants seems to have started a number of rumors, including that she was in the Israeli army, or that her father was in the IDF.

This was the "yellow journalism" she was referring to.

As "evidence" of her family's pro-Israel credentials, a video surfaced of her sister Sabrin auditioning for an Israeli talent show program.

Even though Sabrin sang a classic Arab tune, that fact that she was on the show at all, speaking Hebrew with the judges, and otherwise acting like a person who doesn't hate Israel seems to have turned the Arab voters against Manal by association.

The subtext of many of Manal's critics is that all Arab citizens of Israel as traitors to the Palestinian Arab cause, something which would seem to be a bit contradictory with the idea of "return." Until you realize that "return" is meant to destroy Israel, not to solve any "refugee" problem. As long as Israel exists, Israeli Arabs are considered to be collaborators with the Zionist enemy.

So far, I have not seen the same kind of backlash against the remaining Israeli Arab in the competition, Haitham Khailily.

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian police officer was shot and killed by Egyptian soldiers on Friday after he unwittingly drove his car into a military ambush, Palestinian police in the Sinai told Ma'an.

Imad Fayyad Abdallah, 38, was shot dead near the town of Sheikh Zuweid in the northern Sinai Peninsula.

He had driven his car into an area when Egyptian soldiers had set up an ambush targeting militant groups active in the area, and he failed to stop after warning shots were fired in the air, Palestinian police told Ma'an.

When he attempted to turn his car around to avoid the ambush, meanwhile, Egyptian soldiers opened fire, striking him in the head.

This brings up a number of points.

1. It goes without saying that no Palestinian Arabs will protest this killing even though anyone killed under similar circumstances by Israel would be the subject of numerous outraged protests, op-eds and UN speeches.

2. Egyptian media is, as far as I can tell, silent on this incident. In general, Egypt's media is under a gag order against reporting any civilians or innocents being killed in the protracted campaign against Islamists in the Sinai. However, sometimes, civilians are killed.

3. The story says that the source for this story was "Palestinian police" in the Sinai, besides the victim.

Al Moslim says that Abdallah was member of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah. Wattan TV said that he lived in El Arish, Egypt with his wife and three children, but that he was a colonel in the PA's Preventive Security Force.

Why are there Palestinian police in the Sinai?

UPDATE: It appears that Abdallah was one of many Fatah members, probably loyal to strongman Mohammed Dahlan, who fled Gaza when Hamas took over in 2007. (h/t Bob Knot)

11/29 Links: Abbas: Palestinians will never recognize Israel as Jewish state; Is CAIR a Terror Group?

From Ian:

Stand With Us: StandWithUs Pro-Israel Ads On TriMet in Portland Begin November 26, 2014

For the third time in three years, StandWithUs (SWU) is placing pro-Israel ads on TriMet buses to counter anti-Israel ad campaigns. Beginning November 26, two different StandWithUs ads are on 17 buses running on the same routes and for at least the same four-week duration as the anti-Israel ones.
SWU, an international Israel education organization with a Northwest regional office in Seattle, also countered similar ads on Portland light rail and buses in 2012 and 2013.
One StandWithUs bus ad shows that the Palestinians have said "NO" to Israel's peace offers and territorial compromises since 1937. The other StandWithUs bus ad shows a Palestinian and Israeli boy hugging, juxtaposed with an Israeli transit bus blown apart by a suicide bombing, with the words: "Say NO to Palestinian War Crimes," and reminds viewers that Israel needs a partner for peace. The ads direct viewers to www.sayyestopeace.org to learn more.
These SWU ads counter anti-Israel ads placed by The Seattle Mideast Awareness campaign (SeaMAC), Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights, and Jewish Voice for Peace - Portland, which accused Israel of war crimes and implied that US tax dollars are being used to support apartheid.

Isi Leibler: Coping with religiously inspired terrorism

This latest escalation of incitement is yet another extension of the hatred against Jews ‎inculcated among the Arabs but which accelerated after the Oslo accords. Yasser Arafat and ‎then Abbas have effectively brainwashed generations of Arabs -- from kindergarten age on -- into ‎fanatically hating Jews and sanctifying as "martyrs" those willing to sacrifice their lives and gain ‎paradise by killing them. ‎
The Palestinians have, in fact, been molded into a criminal society adopting a culture of death ‎only comparable to the Nazis who, once in power, also brainwashed Germans into committing ‎barbaric crimes. And those, including Jews, who morally equate this monstrous society with ‎Israel because the Jewish state like any country also includes deviants and degenerates, are ‎making obscene analogies.‎
Every level of Israeli society, from the leadership to the media and down to the man in the ‎street, reacts with shock, horror, disgust and condemnation against our deviants. Contrast this ‎to the public display, not merely in Gaza but also in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus, as ‎Palestinians celebrated the most recent horror their "martyrs" had inflicted on Jews praying in ‎a synagogue. ‎

Daniel Pipes: Is CAIR a Terror Group?

We who follow the Islamist movement fell off our collective chair on Nov. 15 when the news came that the United Arab Emirates' ministerial cabinet had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as one of 83 proscribed terrorist organizations, up there with the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS.
This came as a surprise because the UAE authorities themselves have a record of promoting Islamism; because CAIR has a history of raising funds in the UAE; and because the UAE embassy in Washington had previously praised CAIR.
On reflection, however, the listing makes sense for, in recent years, the Islamist movement has gravely fractured. Sunnis fight Shi'is; advocates of violence struggle against those working within the system; modernizers do battle against those trying to return to the seventh century; and monarchists confront republicans.
This last divide concerns us here. After decades of working closely with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and its related institutions, the Persian Gulf monarchies (with the single, striking exception of Qatar) have come to see the MB complex of institutions as a threat to their existence. The Saudi, Emirati, Kuwaiti, and Bahraini rulers now view politicians like Mohamed Morsi of Egypt as their enemies, as they do Hamas and its progeny – including CAIR.

11/28 Links Pt2: What about the Jewish Nakba?; The Truth About Israel’s Jewish State Law

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: What about the Jewish Nakba?

Let's set the record straight. The disintegration of the empires, beginning with the Ottoman, through to the Austro-Hungarian, and on to the British, intensified the demand on the part of various peoples for self-determination – no more multi-ethnic states under imperial rule, but nations with a sense of independent identity instead. Some would call it an imaginary heritage, but that's not important.
The result was huge waves of population transfers, beginning in 1912 and through to the years following World War II. Around 52 million people underwent the experience, including tens of millions in the period after the war.
Millions of Germans, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians, Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians, Indians, Pakistanis and more and more were forced to leave their birthplaces to make way for national entities, old and new. One would be hard pressed to find a single conflict during the period in question that did not end without a population exchange.
The population exchanges between Greece and Turkey also served as a backdrop for the commission's decision. At the time, this was the position held by statesmen, scholars and intellectuals. Furthermore, in 1930, the Permanent Court of International Justice, the highest international judicial instance at the time, approved population transfers by force when it ruled that the purpose of mass population transfers was to "more effectively aid the process of pacification of the Near East."(h/t Elder of Lobby)

When the Mayflower docked in Haifa

Nineteen-year-old Brooklyn, New York, native Philip Levine had the same ecstatic reaction as countless other American Jews on November 29, 1947. That was the day the United Nations voted to partition British Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state — the Jewish leadership accepting and surrounding Arab countries rejecting the decision.
“It was shortly after the Jewish holidays and we were all glued to the television listening one by one as they counted the votes,” Levine, now 86, recalled from his home in Jerusalem.
“When it was finalized we all exploded with joy and began contacting former US servicemen asking for binoculars, uniforms, and even guns that could be collected and sent to Palestine because we knew war was imminent,” he said.
Weeks later Levine realized he had to do more and volunteered his services to a Jewish organization called Land and Labor for Palestine.
Land and Labor’s mission was ostensibly to send American Jews to kibbutzim where they would replace the local workforce who were called up to the army. However, from the moment Levine signed up he wasn’t trying to fool anyone.

Talking ‘Turkey’ to President Obama

In my Thanksgiving dream, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to visit St. Louis and the local community of Ferguson to try to help restore calm.
“We call on both sides to show restraint,” said Netanyahu, sending a copy of his message to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
“We hope that America can live up to its democratic ideals,” said the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman (in my dream). It was clear he was enjoying the irony of throwing the State Department’s words back at it.
“We hope that American security officials will use minimum force and not commit any hate crimes or war crimes,” declared (in my dream) Labor Party leader Yitzhak Herzog, perhaps remembering how Barack Obama spoke about Israel’s use of force against terrorists firing rockets at Israeli cities a few months ago.
“We call on U.S. law enforcement to institute a full and open investigation of the use of deadly force,” wrote Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett in a separate letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
But this was only a dream.

The Truth About Israel’s Jewish State Law

The law is often bashed from an American standpoint as being out of tune with Western values. Former Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir claimed it was the opposite of the U.S. Constitution, while Avital Burg at The Forward mocked the bill by noting that if it existed in the U.S. it would read “Protestant values will serve as inspiration to lawmakers and judges.”
But what these voices miss is that many states in the world enshrine in law various aspects of their national and religious identity. Michael Freund writes at The Jerusalem Post, that “in Great Britain the Queen is required to be a member of the Anglican Church” and in Denmark the Lutheran Church is guaranteed state support. Israel’s nation state law, and Israel’s existing character as an overwhelmingly Jewish state with Jewish symbols, are similar to most other countries, such as Greece, Bulgaria, Ireland, Croatia, Iran, Japan, or Malaysia. Israel may be out of step with American conceptions of liberal democracy but not necessarily with the rest of the world.
There is a cartoon going around the web showing David Ben-Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence and someone shouting “fascist” at him, mocking how people are calling the nation state bill “fascist.” Israel’s Declaration of Independence, that critics of the law claim strikes a “balance” between Jewish and democratic, actually uses the word “Jew” twenty-four times. It never uses the word democratic. It does speak of the “natural right of the Jews to be masters of their own fate” and”right of the Jewish people to a national rebirth” and “right of the Jewish people to rebuild its national home.” The declaration’s has one paragraph devoted to the “complete equality of all its inhabitants” and says that the state will provide those inhabitants freedom “as envisioned by the prophets of Israel.” Those criticizing the Jewish nation state bill as out of step with Israel’s declaration of independence or original view of Zionism evidently didn’t read the declaration.

Hamas newspaper: "No such thing as an Israeli civilian"

Felesteen, a Hamas newspaper, has an article looking at international condemnations of the Jerusalem synagogue slaughter, and describing how they are all wrong and that every Jew in Israel is in fact a military target.

The article does not distinguish between Jews living on either side of the Green Line. It says that Jews have had mandatory army service since 1948 and therefore they are all considered valid targets.

After going through a series of increasingly bogus arguments that every Israeli Jew should be killed because of what they have done to Arabs and olive trees, the article concludes:

Certainly President Obama and his advisers are not ignorant of these facts, and they know full well that it is the legitimate rights internationally for the peoples of the occupied territory to resist the occupiers in every way including the use of arms. But the US president is committed to the strategy adopted since President Wilson in 1919 as Israel is an asset that serves the interests of the major powers and the United States. Obama's predecessors have committed to defend them and protect them and enable them to perform their function to serve US national interests in the Arab world, despite exceeding international laws and norms.

It then goes on to blame Abbas for not being adequately amenable to terror attacks against Jewish civilians.

During the Gaza war, former general Giora Eiland wrote an op-ed in YNet saying that there is no such thing as innocent civilians in Gaza. He was broadly criticized, and rightly - the Geneva Conventions defines who is a civilian and who is not, and he cannot redefine it no matter what war crimes Hamas commits.

I somehow doubt that the many "human rights" activists who slammed Eiland will ever say a word about Hamas when it says the same thing about Israelis.

11/28 Links Pt1: Sick: BDS spreads photoshop of Concentration Camp inmates with anti-Israel signs

From Ian:

Sick: BDS groups spreads photoshop of Concentration Camp inmates holding anti-Israel signs

We are dealing with some really sick minds when it comes to the proponents of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement propaganda machine.
The latest is from a group with over 91,000 Facebook fans, called “I Acknowledge Apartheid Exists.”
That phrase is an integral part of the BDS movement, which falsely seeks to portray Israel as the equivalent of apartheid South Africa. That claim of Apartheid status was the founding propaganda principle of the BDS movement, which was started at the anti-Semitic 2001 Durban conference.
The group has posted a photoshop of Nazi concentration camp inmates holding anti-Israel signs, on its Facebook page. It’s unclear if the group created it, or is just promoting it.
The image is being spread by others as well, such as the Central NY Committee for Justice in Palestine:
To compare, as they often do, Israel’s response to Hamas and Islamic Jihad rocket fire from Gaza to the systematic industrialized extermination of Europe’s Jewish population not only is grossly inaccurate, it reflects a commitment to demonizing and dehumanizing Israel beyond a political or military dispute.
This propaganda reflects the evil and sick nature of the people behind the BDS movement. While I’m all in favor of dialogue, I don’t know how you try to reason with people like that, who have lost all touch with reality and truth.

Caroline Glick: The storm over the teacup

The Right, like the majority of the public that supports it and votes for it, recognizes that the greatest danger to Israel’s democratic system and status as a Jewish state is the radicalized legal system. But today the Right lacks the power to pass the legislation required to curb the power of Israel’s unelected legal rulers.
Rather than doing the hard work of running a continuous, relentless campaign to accrue the requisite power to reform the system, politicians on the Right have embraced an unnecessary bill that will do nothing to protect Israel's future.
On the other hand, their counterparts on the Left have shown that the Israeli Left is today largely indistinguishable from the international Left which rejects Israel’s right to exist and rejects the Jewish people’s right to sovereignty and freedom in its homeland. With Haaretz acting as the conduit between the BDS movement and government ministers, politicians on the Left have become unmoored from the basic requirements of national life.
In other words, the current maelstrom over the draft Nation State bill shows that Israel’s political Right is far weaker than it needs to be and that Israel’s political Left is far more destructive than it ought to be.

Mordechai Kedar: A Western Tourist Hasn't a Chance in a Persian Bazaar

The Iranian bazaar was a resounding success, and the Western tourist – who doesn't know the rules – lost once again: he paid the price of granting the Iranians more time and did not get the merchandise he wanted, because he does not have an agreement and it is not certain that he will ever get one as Iran will have the bomb before then – in another seven months.
The West does not understand the most basic fact: there is only one thing that can pressure Iran and the West is not willing to do it: that is, threatening the continuation of Ayatollah rule. The West has never used that card to get its way, so why should the Ayatollahs pay for an agreement that they do not want?
Worst of all is that there were those that warned the Western powers that they would fall into the Iranian bazaar's pit. One of them was Binyamin Netanyahu, even before he became Prime Minister of Israel. Harold Rhode wrote about it clearly and so did the writer of this article. The problem with those who negotiated with the Iranians is that they thought they knew how Iranians behave, believed the lies of the consummate liars, and the deceptions of the professional deceivers.
History will sadly ridicule the story of how a wayward and stubborn country could pull the wool over the eyes of intelligent and well educated, powerful negotiators who were psychologically incapable of using their power, and ensnare them in a Persian bazaar trap where only someone who learns the rules can survive.

Israel allows all Muslims to visit Temple Mount; masked Hamas terrorists make the most of it

Here are some photos from the Temple Mount this morning as Israeli officials allowed all Muslims to visit (no non-Muslims ever visit on Fridays.)

Israeli flags are banned from the Temple Mount, but Hamas terror flags are just fine.

From Israel HaYom:

In one of the rooms of the Jordanian royal palace in Amman hangs a famous painting from 128 years ago by the artist Gustav Bauernfeind. This breathtaking piece of art depicts a group of Jews standing at the Cotton Merchant's Gate, one of the entrances to the Temple Mount.

The artist wrote of the painting: "A group of Jews stand at the gate, their heads thrust slightly forward as they peer into the paradisiacal sun-drenched precinct within, with its gleaming domes and coloured tiles and marbled walls, which once had formed their most sacred national shrine; whereas now, seated before that very portal, sword in hand, the gatekeeper (I nearly called him the Temple watchman) bars their way. Within, Mohammedans dressed in vivid costumes stroll, sit, loll about, and the like. A fine contrast, don't you think?"

King Hussein, the late father of the current monarch, Abdullah, noticed the painting during a visit to Germany more than two decades ago. He fell in love with it immediately. His emissaries paid a fortune to buy it. Through his deft use of the paintbrush, Bauernfeind unwittingly provided the snapshot image that reflects the manner in which the Hashemite kingdom views itself -- the guardian at the gate and legal custodian of the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.

The piece sold for $533,755 in 1999*.

The rest of the article is very good as well, but this painting encapsulates how Muslims want the Temple Mount to look today: smilingly holding spears to prevent the hated, wretched Jews from visiting while Muslims use the holy place as a park.

(h/t YMedad)

*UPDATE: There was a similar painting by Bauernfiend that is the one that was sold in 1999, but the description Christie's quotes gave doesn't quite match it, I cannot find a Muslim guard with a sword. (h/t Irene)

Arabs (and Mondoweiss) lie as usual, say bus accident was deliberate murder

From Gulf News:

A speeding Israeli bus loaded with colonists ran over a group of Palestinians, killing one and hurting two others near the Israeli checkpoint of Al Jalamah between Nablus and Jenin.

The speeding bus ran over Noor Hassan Salem, 22, his cousin Alaa Kayed Salem and a third villager from a village near Nablus.

Sources in Nablus told Gulf News that Noor suffered serious injuries in the incident and also claimed that the bus driver intentionally sped up before hitting the three men. The sources stressed that as the site was not a place to speed up and because the Palestinian workers were on the pavement and had not reached the street when the bus hit them, it is clear that the accident was intentional. In addition, it indicates that the bus driver clearly meant to hit the Palestinians in front of the Israeli soldiers on the checkpoint.

Nablus sources said that the incident was revenge and maintained that the accident was intentional.

The sources stressed that it was strange that all Palestinians who carried out actions against Israelis had been arrested, indicted and even punished but so far not even a single Israeli attacker had been arrested and questioned.

Lying anti-Israel propaganda site Mondoweisspublished a photo of the victim, labeling the incident a "bus attack."

Social media of course was filled with similar accusations:

The Arab American News helpfully implied that this was a "racially motivated attacks by Jewish settlers against Palestinians."

What they didn't mention is that the bus driver was arrested on the scene for investigation (which Ma'an did report) and that he is an Israeli Arab!

Panet (an Israeli Arab newspaper) mentions it. Palestine News Network mentions it. Israeli police say they see no indication of it being intentional.

In the face of this fact, Noor's family- clearly wanting to get paid for their son being a martyr - claimed at the funeral that all these sources are lying, and that the bus driver really was a Jewish settler wearing a kipah, and that he tried to run away, and that Israeli police deliberately barred ambulances from the scene for 45 minutes (even the lying Gulf News report admitted that Israeli and Palestinian ambulances were on the scene quickly.)

Fatah turned the funeral into a political event to incite and stoke more anger against Jews.

This is par for the course: politically motivated liars and financially motivated family members do not hesitate to make up facts - because there are no repercussions when they are caught lying.

And sometimes they hit the jackpot and their lies can start a deadly riot against Jews.

(h/t/ Bob Knot)

11/27 Links Pt2: Chloe Valdary: Who Are the Real Racists in Israel?; Al-Dura Long Range Ballistic Myth

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: Who Are the Real Racists in Israel?

Unfortunately, in Stewart and Erbs’s world, inversion is in vogue. Protection from racists becomes racism and a person’s right to defend himself is eroded, turning victims into victimizers.
To make matters worse, Stewart and Erb represent an organization that has no qualms about preventing Jewish communities from being established in the West Bank. According to J Street’s website, the very presence of Jewish communities, “undermines the prospects for peace by making Palestinians doubt Israeli motives and commitment.” Erb specifically writes in The Jewish Week that Jewish communities, “fuel inter-group tensions.” To wit, according to Erb, the presence of Jews in certain areas is itself a provocation; it is Jews who are responsible for the incitement against them.
That Stewart and Erb arrogate to themselves the authority to give commentary on the issue of “segregation” when they actively advocate for the establishment of a state which, according to them, must segregate Jews before it comes into fruition, illustrates the absurdity of their own hypocrisy.
And this is what their appraisal of Israeli policy ultimately boils down to: an excess of hyper-idealistic solipsism whereby members of a mutual admiration society think that referencing the name of a prominent civil rights leader means they are just like them. Yet, Dr. King understood fundamentally that a persecuted people will grow tired; they will grow tired of being pelted with stones; they will grow tired of having their children run over with cars; they will grow tired of having their soldiers stabbed to death while they sleep. “So in the midst of their tiredness, these people … rise up and protest against injustice.”
Security officials says that this policy seeks to address that injustice. Perhaps it isn’t the right one; perhaps it is. But one thing is certain: Stewart and Erb’s faux righteous indignation are categorically not.

Book Review for Al-Dura: Long Range Ballistic Myth

This event, which came to be known as the al-Dura affair, is the starting point for Nidra Poller’s 288 page intellectual journey, Al-Dura: Long Range Ballistic Myth.
Poller, an American writer based in Paris, traces the repeated attempts by the state-owned French television station to intimidate via legal measures anyone who publicly questioned the authenticity of the event. The French courtroom thus becomes the stage where an obvious fabrication, masquerading as earnest journalism, is transformed into an indisputable fact.
Although the repeated stifling of objectively sound criticism helped to reveal the true nature of French journalism, especially in its biased depiction of Israel, the damage caused by the original incident in Netzarim was already done and the results were deadly.

A Decade Later, "The New Anti-Semitism" Comes of Age

When I began reading Professor Phyllis Chesler's updated book "The New Anti-Semitism", I seemed to hear a collective sigh saying "this hasn't come a minute too soon." And thanks to the excellent research and prophetic analysis of the acclaimed author, lecturer and activist, the reader is afforded the necessary context and perspective with which to understand the invidious phenomenon of contemporary Jew hatred.
Originally written over a decade ago, Chesler's premise was and still is that classical anti-Semitism as espoused by such nihilists and evil madmen as Hitler and the scores that preceded him has now been deemed to be "politically correct" by the trendy denizens of Western academia and the "intellectual" crowd.
Chesler was among the first to have seen and denounced the suicidal alliance between Western intelligentsia and fundamental Islam. The anti-Semite needed a new and more acceptable veneer and the tiny place on the globe known as Israel could serve as the perfect cover. So Zionism does not equal racism, but anti-Zionism does. In fact, it is part of what makes the new anti-Semitism "new."

Stop the presses: UN org DOESN'T blame Israel for a Palestinian problem

The only thing really newsworthy about this is that UN Women, who wrote this, manages to discuss serious problems that Palestinian Arab women have - without blaming Israel at all.

When Zahara* divorced her second husband her family locked her in an abandoned house for more than four years before police, acting on anonymous information, found and freed her.

“The [Palestinian Civil Police Family Protection Unit] advised me to press charges against my family, but I did not want to increase shame. My brother signed a pledge not to harm me. I trusted them and thought the situation would change. It did not.”

Zahara’s story is not unique. A 2011 survey of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that one-third of women experiencing violence remain silent or seek help from family. Few turn to specialized institutions, and even less to security and justice services.

“All the people of the village blamed me for putting shame on my family after the police intervened. They never questioned my treatment by the family,” remembered Zahara.

A societal culture of shame, the patriarchal nature of Palestinian society, and pressure from family and the community in cases of gender-based violence, make it difficult for women to reveal their plight. Inadequate laws, lack of protection services, and low confidence in justice and security institutions further hamper opportunities for women to seek redress. As a result, most violence cases are not reported and never enter the justice system.

“Professional knowledge and expertise in dealing specifically with cases of women and girls victims of violence is needed,” says Dareen Salheyeh, Chief Prosecutor. “Dealing with these cases requires sensitivity to the issue, including awareness and willingness.”

From January to March 2014, Dareen was one of 20 prosecutors who attended UN Women workshops for public prosecutors on handling cases of gender-based violence. The workshops focused specifically on the use and application of laws, including international women’s rights conventions, for the benefit of women and girl survivors of violence. It is one of several activities targeted for justice and security professionals under a three-year UN Women-executed project funded by the UK Department for International Development. The project aims to train and establish specialized core groups of justice and security professionals for equitable access to justice for women survivors of violence.

*Name changed to protect her identity

The article goes on to show that UN Women are actually working to fix things instead of pretending that everything is Israel's fault, as most other UN groups do. There is none of the politics that usually suffuse everything the UN does in the Middle East.

It is sad that this is so unusual.

(h/t Emmanuel)

The word Jew comes, of course, from the tribe of Judah.

And Judah means "thanksgiving."

Happy Thanksgiving!

While we are at it, here is a stunning photo of a rainbow taken at the Nevatim Air Force base in the Negev on Tuesday morning.

11/27 Links Pt1: Hamas terror attack plot at Jerusalem soccer stadium thwarted

From Ian:

Shin Bet: Hamas terror attack plot at Jerusalem soccer stadium thwarted

The Shin Bet and IDF thwarted a large-scale, transnational Hamas terrorism network that was preparing to carry out an array of deadly attacks against Israelis.
It was cleared for publication on Thursday that the network planned to target the landmark Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem, the capital's light rail system, car bombings, and kidnappings of Israelis in the West Bank and overseas.
The nerve center of the network was situated in Hamas's headquarters in Turkey, the Shin Bet added. Additional intended targets included infiltrations into Israeli communities, shooting and bombing attacks against Israeli traffic and military targets in the West Bank, and setting up terrorist cells in Jordan in order to carry out cross-border attacks into Israel.
The plot, uncovered in September, involved the assembly of multiple terror cells in the West Bank, as well as the training of Hamas members overseas.
More than 30 Hamas members are under arrest, and the Shin Bet has seized two M-16 firearms, ammunition, and bomb-making equipment.

Netanyahu after foiled terror plot: Hamas challenges existence of Jews, Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday praised the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and IDF after it was announced that security forces had thwarted a large-scale Hamas cell in the West Bank that "could have claimed the lives of many victims in our country."
While the premier noted that despite the announcement of the deterred plot in September, many others remain unrevealed.
The premier lauded those involved in counter-terrorism work and operations "against Hamas that seeks to challenge the existence of a Jewish national state and essentially challenges the existence of Jews in general."
He vowed that Israel was working "day in day out to ensure the safety of Israeli citizens."

Sarah Honig: Transcending All Other Considerations

On Israel’s first day, Arab League Secretary-General Abdul-Rahman Azzam Pasha, confirmed Arab priorities. Sending forth seven Arab armies to wipe out the “Zionist entity,” he declared: “This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.”
The Arab agenda and intentions were unambiguous. The creation of a Palestinian state wasn’t even considered. Syria, Jordan and Egypt had even devised their own plan for the partition of Palestine – among themselves.
The unvarnished truth is that even now the last thing Palestinians desire is an Arab Palestinian state dwelling in idyllic coexistence alongside a secure, accepted and recognized Jewish state. Honchos in both Ramallah and Gaza may cynically exploit the two-state catchphrase, but they never genuinely espoused the cause of two-state harmony.
But what do Lofven and Wallström care that the Arabs brazenly spawned and successfully market a lie?
Forgetting Resolution 181 is exceedingly expedient for the brainwashed Mideast and voluntarily gullible moral relativists in capitals like Stockholm. It’s too useful – even in snow-white Sweden – not to remember that the Arabs were never interested in a Palestinian state. All they ever wanted and still want is to destroy the Jewish state.

Syrian Jihadi: "Jews are the kings of sex"

From MEMRI:

In a recent TV interview, Syrian Islamist scholar Muaz Al-Safouk said that the world is shaped by the Jews, "the kings of gold, sex, and the media, who spread immorality, atheism, apostasy, and discord," and that only the Islamist Jihadi movements can break their backs.

If we're the kings of sex in this world, then that might explain why the jihadis are so keen on sex in the next world.

Meanwhile, this Kuwaiti cleric was careful to only refer to Jews as "sons of Zion," as in "All the wars throughout history, from the time of our Prophet Mohammed until this day, were started by the sons of Zion. All of them!"

See? he's only anti-Zionist!

Full text of "Jewish State" draft law shows no discrimination against non-Jews

The world is freaking out over the draft law declaring Israel to be the Jewish State.

Of course, at least 99.9% of the reporters and politicians decrying it haven't actually read the law.

If you can find anything here (Netanyahu's version) that would result in discrimination against Israel's non-Jewish citizens, please enlighten us

I. Objective

Defining the State of Israel as the national state of the Jewish People, and anchoring the values of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the spirit of the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

II. Basic principles

The Land of Israel is the historic homeland of the Jewish People and the place of the establishment of the State of Israel.

The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish People in which the Jewish People realizes its right to self-determination in accordance with its cultural and historic heritage.

The right to realize national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish People.

The State of Israel is democratic, based on the foundations of freedom, justice and peace in light of the visions of the prophets of Israel, and upholds the individual rights of all its citizens according to law.

III. Symbols of the State

The national anthem is Hatikvah.

The national flag is white with two sky-blue stripes close to the margins and a sky-blue Star of David in the center.

The national emblem is a seven-branched menorah with two olive branches at its sides and the word 'Israel' below.

IV. Return

All Jews are eligible to immigrate to the country and receive citizenship of the state according to law.

V. Ingathering of the Exiles and Strengthening Links with the Jewish People in the Diaspora

The State will act to gather the exiles of the Jewish People and strengthen links between Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora.

VI. Assistance to Jews in Distress

The State will act to assist Jews in distress and in captivity due to their being Jews.

VII. Heritage

The State will act to preserve the historical and cultural heritage and tradition of the Jewish People and to enshrine and cultivate it in the country and in the Diaspora.

All educational institutions that serve the Jewish public in the country will teach the history, heritage and tradition of the Jewish People.

The State will act to enable all residents of Israel, regardless of religion, race or nationality, to preserve their culture, heritage, language and identity.

VIII. Official Calendar

The Hebrew calendar is the official calendar of the State.

IX. Independence Day and Remembrance Day

Independence Day is the national holiday of the State.

Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars and Holocaust Heroes and Martyrs Remembrance Day are the official remembrance days of the State.

X. Public holidays

The regular public holidays of the State of Israel are the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays on which no worker shall be employed except under conditions to be defined by law; members of recognized faiths shall be entitled to rest on their Sabbaths and holidays.

XI. Jewish Law

Jewish law shall serve as a source of inspiration for the Knesset

If a court shall consider a legal question that requires a decision and not find an answer in legislation, precedent or clear inference, it shall render a decision in light of the principles of freedom, justice, fairness and peace of the heritage of Israel.

XII. Maintaining the Holy Places

The Holy Places shall be guarded against desecration, any other damage and against anything that is liable to infringe on freedom of access by worshippers to the places that are holy to them or on their feelings toward those places.

XIII. Infringement of rights

There shall be no infringement of rights according to the basic laws except by law that befits the values of the State of Israel, that is designed for a worthy purpose and which does not exceed that which is required.

XIV. Amendment

The basic law shall not be amended except by a basic law that is approved by a majority of MKs.

(From Matthew Kalman's site)