Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, December 26, 2014

Fatah celebrates 50th anniversary with anger, bitterness and antisemitism

January 1 will be the 50th anniversary of Fatah.

Well, that's not true. Fatah was founded several years beforehand. It is the 50th anniversary of Fatah's first terror attack (a failed attack against Israel's water carrier,) so for Fatah, that's the same thing.

The organization released a statement for the occasion on its official website. But this statement is not self-congratulatory or celebratory. Instead, it is a wildly angry missive against all of Fatah's enemies, internal and external, especially against the Mahmoud Dahlan faction of Fatah in Gaza.

Conflict rages today after prospects for the peace process have closed, and after that the Israeli enemy turned his back to the world and international legitimacy, and completely denied all Palestinian national rights, and insisted on the practice of racism and fascism in all its aggressive and criminal forms. ...Add to this the racial escalation and Nazi-like Israeli occupation and the Zionist practices...

Israeli enemy has proved racism through daily obnoxious behavior and based on the murder, detention, destruction of homes, and the desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the daily provocations stationed against Muslims, and the attack on the worshipers there and the plan for temporal and spatial division of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In the face of these racist policies and collective punishment, targeting humans and trees and stones, and the practice of genocide in its ugliest forms, the leadership has acknowledged, led by President Mahmoud Abbas to take decisive and serious steps to address these crucial challenges, and insist on going to the Security Council to submit a draft resolution backed by the Arab world, to recognize the State of Palestine on the territories occupied in 1967, and a time limit for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation.

We are encouraged to do so by the support of the ongoing European parliaments for a Palestinian state, which is evidence that the European and South American peoples and others began to be liberated from the nightmare of the Zionist media.

..The decision for the escalation of popular resistance is our top position, and the approach pursued by the martyr leader Abu Ein will prevail throughout the West Bank, and the city of Jerusalem, and it must make the enemy feel that the occupation is expensive, and it can not feel stable while our people suffer.

At this time the President Abu Mazen is leading the battle ending the occupation, at a time when the United States stands in solidarity with the Israeli enemy to abort the Palestinian project with arrows of treachery, and attempts to abort the Palestinian project by many quarters, including Palestinian sources. We have seen a gruesome picture stand out in the Gaza Strip in raising the banners of Fatah Festival but in fact nothing to do with Fatah, the festival showed images against Palestinian President Abu Mazen, who stands today with all hardness particularly against the United States and her stepdaughter Israel racism.

It is surprising that this suspicious festival was sponsored under the protection and guarantee of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, a joint project between the two parties who met on that day in order to weaken the Palestinian position, and confuse the Palestinian arena, and send a message to the world that President Abu Mazen has no control over the Gaza Strip, so the Gaza has a rebellious leasership. Is Hamas responsible for the consequences of such media festivals, namely Hamas, which signed a reconciliation agreement, and national unity, and the government of national reconciliation, is it still committed to what it signed or not? In front of what is going on, we emphasize to all those who are challenging the Fatah movement, we assure them that all those who who hatch conspiracies wil be met with stiffness and strength, and that this historic leadership will not pay attention to them, but is concerned with the national interests of the people, and adheres to our principles , and refuses to bargain, we in the Fatah movement have come close to the anniversary of the establishment of Fatah, the start of the Palestinian revolution emphasize that these leading her movement under a single command, a unified body, and the decision of one, and others should not accept others to ride roughshod over our leadership, because the encroachment on Fatah leadership is sacrilege.

We emphasize the Palestinian people that the Seventh Conference of the Fatah movement will make them stronger and harder and able to face all the dangers that beset them.

Salute to the sons of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and in all the occupied homeland, and we say to the blessed sons of Fatah in all governorates of the Gaza Strip that all attempts to abuse the Fatah movement and its cadres and leaders will not only increase our rigidity and insistence on our principles, but this movement of martyrs will always be bigger than the plots against it.

Salute to the martyrs whose righteous blood lit the road of revolution and liberation.

Salute to prisoners detained steadfast behind bars, believers that independence is coming.

And it's a revolution until victory

Palestinian National Liberation Movement Fatah

The Guardian has a rare piece of real reporting that isn't obsessed with bashing Israel:

Amid mounting criticism of the pace of the rebuilding effort, the Guardian has established that a controversial UN-designed mechanism to control the supply of building materials – and prevent them falling into the hands of the militant group Hamas – has been widely corrupted.

The mechanism for allowing the entry of materials into Gaza – including the monitoring of the distribution and use of concrete – was designed by the UN special envoy Robert Serry to satisfy Israeli government concerns that cement should not be diverted to Hamas for military purposes, including tunnel building.

But some within the UN and international aid groups had privately expressed fears that the mechanism – which involves inspection, registration and monitoring – was vulnerable to corruption.

Under the scheme householders are assessed to see if they qualify for rebuilding materials, then registered and issued with a coupon allowing them to buy a specified amount of materials from warehouses monitored by a UN-administered inspection regime.

During a recent visit to cement warehouses in Gaza, however, the Guardian [saw] cement being resold a few feet outside the warehouse doors at up to four times the cost within minutes of being handed over to householders with coupons.

Elsewhere, the Guardian heard allegations of officials taking bribes to produce coupons for more concrete than was needed by householders, so the excess could be resold on the black market, with licensed dealers either turning a blind eye to fraud or participating in it.

At his warehouse, one of the biggest in Gaza City, manager Maher Khalil complained about the complexity of the system. “We do what we are supposed to do,” he told the Guardian. “There is a list published with people’s names which we post outside. They check their name and come with their coupon. We check the ID and then give them the cement.

“We told the UN inspectors who came to see us we can only check what is going on inside the warehouse, not what is happening outside. Inside we sell the concrete for 500 shekels [£81] a tonne. Outside they sell it for 1,600.”

Walking out of the warehouse the Guardian immediately encountered men with horse carts loaded with cement who offered to both buy and sell concrete. One man offered to buy a bag – usually costing 27 shekels – for 70 shekels, saying he would sell it for 90. Another street trader with a laden cart offered to sell concrete by the tonne.

At the bottom of this food chain was Adham, a scrawny boy of nine who was collecting the concrete dust off the carts to put into a bag that he planned to sell for 5 shekels to buy snacks for himself and his brothers.

“It is a disgrace what is happening,” said economist Omar Shaaban. “The new reconstruction mechanism has reproduced the Israeli siege of Gaza, only this time it is the UN that is regulating it. The UN is trading stability for cement – and not very much of it. And most of the cement that is coming in is being sold on the black market. Israel knows it. Serry knows it. The mechanism was a licence for corruption. It is a licence to prolong the siege. It is a licence for big salaries for the UN officials running it. What is absurd is that none of it is preventing Hamas rebuilding.”

In Shujaiya, one of the areas most heavily hit during the war, the rubble had been cleared from the streets but there was little evidence of anyone rebuilding.

Meanwhile:

International donors have so far failed to deliver billions of dollars in aid money that was promised to rebuild the war-battered Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said Monday, saying the rift between rival Palestinian factions is deterring foreign governments from sending aid.

In the wake of a 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian fighters over the summer, international donors promised $2.7 billion to help rebuild Gaza at a conference in Cairo in October. But Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said "not even one penny" has been received from major donors such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

"Frankly speaking, what is happening now is not encouraging," Mustafa said. He said just a trickle of money has been received, but refused to elaborate.

And this:

Over the past several days, residents of Netiv Ha’asara, a cooperative agricultural community located near Israel’s border with the Strip, reported a number of instances where bulldozers and trucks were spotted conducting heavy excavation activity close to the security fence, according to Israel Radio.

The residents further reported that a 200-meter-long dirt mound had been raised in the area, with Palestinians workers periodically raising emblems of the Islamist terrorist group above it.

All those pledges for Gaza, especially from the Arab nations, have (as usual) been shown to be empty. The homeowners prefer the black-market money to the concrete. Hamas gets money from its friends in Qatar and Turkey and buys what it needs for tunnels as families prefer to use free shelters from UNRWA or from families to rebuilding on their own. UN officials are getting rich from the bribes. Israel is selling all the cement that people are willing to pay for under this mechanism but the money isn't there despite the pledges. The PA, which is whom the official scheme has been negotiated with, is no doubt also profiting from this as well. And UNRWA, whose officials are part of the corruption, uses the problems as an excuse to do even more fundraising.

(h/t Ronald)

Modern Muslim Mechanical Marvels

Remember the device invented by the Egyptian army that supposedly detects and cures AIDS and Hepatitis C?

It was shown to the world earlier this year, and debunked quite decisively as soon as it made a public appearance.

The army originally announced that it would be widely available in June, but right before the deadline it announced that it will delay the planned launch by six months.

Well, the six months is almost up, and after the army announced that December 28 would be the day of the great unveiling, now the army is saying that it will release the device next month.

I'm sure that this is the last delay, and this time they mean it!

Meanwhile:

An Iranian scientist claimed this week that he had invented a radar system which can detect drug addicts from nearly a mile away, and measure the level of narcotics flooding their system.

According to the Iranian Mehr news agency, the system was designed to identify explosives and bodies buried under rubble, as well as alcohol and drugs.

Scientist Seyed Ali Hosseini told the news agency on Tuesday that the technology can locate drug addicts from 1,500 meters (0.9 miles away). He said the “radar tracker was designed and built to detect drugs, explosives, bodies alive and dead under the rubble, addictive drugs and alcoholic beverages.”

The system “can be applied by the police, border guards, security agents and during unexpected accidents and disasters,” he added.

The enterprising scientist offered a vague description of the mechanisms involved, saying “the transmitter part consists of radio waves and radio magnets emitting waves across the earth and stimulates elements’ molecular layer and releases their ions.” The receiver, meanwhile, “detects ions as well as the molecular layer, then transfers waves back to the target to detect their essence.” The system then projects the findings on a computer, “which includes the volume, weight and size of the traced elements,” he said.

Scientists from the Islamic Republic have in the past touted other improbable inventions. In April 2013, an Iranian businessman and scientist said he had successfully invented a time machine.

Ali Razeghi, 27, a Tehran-based scientist, businessman and serial inventor, claimed his “Aryayek Time Traveling Machine” can “predict five to eight years of the future life of any individual, with 98 percent accuracy,” according to a report in The Guardian.

Razeghi said that his device, which is about the size of a small computer, uses complex algorithms to “bring the future to you.” He said that governments can use his invention to “prepare itself for challenges that might destabilize it” but that a prototype won’t be launched currently because “the Chinese will steal the idea and produce it in millions overnight.”

(h/t Ian)

12/25 Links Pt2: The Modern Day Miracle of Israel; What if Jesus Were Born Now?; Palestinianism

From Ian:

The Modern Day Miracle of Israel

Close your eyes and imagine for one moment how radically different the entire world would be if Israel were at peace with its neighbors in the Middle East. In fact, consider the multitude of benefits to all of humanity and the thought becomes as exciting as it does overwhelming.
I am not merely talking about the preservation of human life that is tragically lost to deadly terrorist attacks and wars that are forced upon the Jewish state by neighbors who remain committed to its destruction. I am also talking about the life-improving innovations that flow from Israel like the mighty streams that rush through the rugged landscape of the Holy Land.
If Israel received the gift of peace and security then the entire world would receive even more remarkable benefits than it has already reaped from a tiny country no bigger than the state of New Jersey, which fights to survive in one of the world’s most violent and destructive neighborhoods.
During the past week I have traveled through Israel and the Palestinian territories with Dr. Ben Carson and his wife Candy. We have seen first-hand the challenges that Israel faces and the incredible opportunities that this small dynamo is creating for its people and the larger global community.

Netanyahu on Christmas: Middle East Christians subject to violence, persecution and fear

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wished Christians the world over a Merry Christmas on Thursday, lamenting the plight of Middle East Christians who he said are subject to persecution in every country of the region, except for Israel.
"I wish Christians in Israel and all over the world a very Merry Christmas," Netanyahu said in the YouTube video.
"Christmas is a special opportunity to spend time with loved ones and to celebrate this most festive of holidays," he added.
He called on the world's Christian communities to remember those who are less fortunate, the Christianss suffering from persecution across the Middle East.
Netanyahu said that Israel was the one exception in the Middle East where Christians live without fear, violence or persecution.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Christmas Greeting - 2014

From Philly.com:

For those with no time to wrap their gifts, the Herzl Group of Camden County Chapter of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, has been providing the service at the [Cherry Hill] mall for 40 years.

All proceeds from the monthlong gift-wrapping service go toward medical research in Israel for diseases such as Parkinson's, breast cancer, and multiple sclerosis.

"It's kind of become a tradition for me," said Clarence Lejeune, 52, a developer from Sicklerville, in his 18th year getting his gifts wrapped at the Hadassah kiosk. "I know no matter how late I procrastinate in buying my gifts, they will get wrapped, and wrapped beautifully. These ladies do a wonderful job."

The Camden County Chapter of Hadassah began gift wrapping at the mall to raise money for medical research in 1974, as well at two other malls owned by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) - the Moorestown Mall and Voorhees Town Center. Last year, it raised $30,000 from all three malls, according to Carolyn King, the chapter's vice president of fund-raising.

Each year, the event is run by an all-volunteer staff. The service at Cherry Hill began Dec. 4 and concluded at 6 p.m. Christmas Eve.

Five volunteers, all women (though men have volunteered, too) worked diligently behind the counter on Wednesday.

"It's just wonderful to meet people, see what they are buying, and see what the trends are this year," said Yvonne Friedman, the local group's organizational vice president. "It's also great to be able to raise thousands and thousands of dollars for medical research, children's programs, and humanitarian efforts."

Based on what she had been wrapping all month, Friedman said the most popular items to give have been Michael Kors handbags, North Face coats and jackets, and boots. She also noted a difference among shoppers this year.

"They are in a very good mood this year," Friedman said. "People are not as frenzied this year compared to last year. They are calmer and much more patient."

Founded in 1912, Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, is the largest women's, largest Zionist, and largest Jewish membership organization in the U.S. The Camden County chapter was founded in 1925.

Egyptian censors have decided to ban the Ridley Scott Biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings."

Two reasons were given.

One is that the film apparently implies that the Jews built the Pyramids, a very touchy subject in Egypt.

The second is that the film characterizes the splitting of the "Red Sea" as the result of an earthquake, not as a direct miracle from Allah.

The Koran does discuss the Exodus story, including the splitting of the sea, in chapter 26.

Morocco censors also banned the film, but they did it after some theaters started the first showing, causing much confusion. No official reason was given, but Morocco had also banned the biblical film Noah.

12/25 Links Pt1: Livni: Abbas Sabotaged Peace Process; US aid to PA should not reward terrorists

From Ian:

Tzipi Livni: Abbas Sabotaged Peace Process

In an interview with Roger Cohen of the NY Times, Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, detailed the events which led to the failure of the most recent talks. Despite the fact that Livni is not a supporter of Prime Minister Netanyahu and felt he was difficult to deal with during the negotiations, she placed the failure of the talks firmly at the feed of Palestinian President Abbas.
According to Livni, the U.S. presented its own framework for a peace plan, Netanyahu agreed to work with it despite his objections but Abbas never gave the U.S. an answer. Things went downhill from there.
On March 17, in a meeting in Washington, President Obama presented Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, with a long-awaited American framework for an agreement that set out the administration’s views on major issues, including borders, security, settlements, Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem.
Livni considered it a fair framework, and Netanyahu had indicated willingness to proceed on the basis of it while saying he had reservations. But Abbas declined to give an answer in what his senior negotiator, Saeb Erekat, later described as a “difficult” meeting with Obama. Abbas remained evasive on the framework, which was never made public.
This, in Livni’s view, amounted to an important opportunity missed by the Palestinians, not least because to get Netanyahu’s acceptance of a negotiation on the basis of the 1967 borders with agreed-upon swaps — an idea Obama embraced in 2011 — would have indicated a major shift.

Elliott Abrams: US aid to PA should not reward terrorists

The omnibus appropriations bill recently passed by Congress contains an interesting ‎provision regarding the support for terrorists and their families by the Palestinian Authority:‎
"The Secretary of State shall reduce the amount of assistance made available by this Act ‎under the heading 'Economic Support Fund' for the West Bank and Gaza by an amount the ‎Secretary determines is equivalent to that expended by the Palestinian Authority in ‎payments to individuals and the families of such individuals that are imprisoned for acts of ‎terrorism or who died committing such acts during the previous calendar year.‎"
The intent is clear: Congress was aware of the PA's practice of rewarding individuals who ‎had committed acts of terrorism with direct financial support or financial support for their ‎families while they remain in prison. And Congress wants to be sure that aid from the ‎United States isn't paying for this, so for every dollar the PA spends we will reduce aid to the ‎PA by the same amount.‎
Good idea, long overdue -- but the language quoted above won't achieve that goal. First of ‎all, why only acts committed "during the previous calendar year?" Does that mean that ‎payments to someone who committed an act of terrorism two or five or 10 years ago is ‎exempt? Does that clause about "the previous calendar year" modify "imprisoned for acts of ‎terrorism," or "who died committing such acts," or both? Or does it modify all "payments," ‎which would be the logical meaning: The amount of U.S. aid is to be reduced by the amount ‎of all payments made in the prior year? Sloppy, last minute drafting of this provision is the ‎culprit.‎

The UNRWA Shill Game and State Department Compliance

“The goal of U.S. support to UNRWA,” according to the State Department Report, “is to ensure that Palestinian refugees live in dignity with an enhanced human development potential until a comprehensive and just solution is secured.” In reality, however, UNRWA has assured that the children, grandchildren and all future descendants of Palestinian refugees will remain degraded and humiliated victims of its policy, which has no equivalent for any other refugees in the world – including more than three million Syrians from President Assad’s current reign of terror.
The stated goal of State Department largesse toward UNRWA is to “promote the human development of Palestinian refugees by improving living conditions, economic potential, livelihoods, access, and human rights.” It pledges to do so “until a just solution is achieved and UNRWA’s mandate ends.” American taxpayers should not hold their breath. A sixty-five year-old policy of unmonitored generosity to a certified rip-off organization that invents and inflates refugee numbers to justify its shnorring is unlikely to abate in the foreseeable future.
Indeed, as Romirowsky and Joffe indicate, UNRWA in Gaza has become little more than a surrogate for Hamas. During its summer rocket assault against Israel UNRWA schools were storehouses for Hamas rockets while UNRWA employees cheered the murder of Israelis. Belatedly mindful of this travesty, the new State Department Framework states, rather preposterously in light of recent events, that “the United States and UNRWA share concerns about the threat of terrorism.” Tunnels beneath and rockets above Israel’s borders are not mentioned.
On paper at least, according to impressionable State Department drafters, UNRWA is “committed to taking all possible measures to ensure that funding provided by the United States to support UNRWA is not used to provide assistance to, or otherwise support, terrorists or terrorist organizations.” The State Department notes “with appreciation efforts taken by UNRWA during the course of 2014 to strengthen the Agency’s neutrality compliance.” Gaza is ignored. Romirowsky and Joffe wonder, as anyone might, how the Facebook celebration by UNRWA teachers following the recent murder of four Jerusalem rabbis at prayer in their synagogue meets the standard of “neutrality compliance.”

This "Christmas tree" is in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, decorated with Israeli "bombs" (actually, tear gas canisters), "to be in front of visitors from all countries of the world, to remind them of the occupation crimes."

Apparently, the municipality of Bethlehem removed the exhibit but the organizers returned to put it up again.

What a surprise that Christmas is just another excuse to score political points. In Bethlehem, it sure isn't about Jesus.

UPDATE: Video (h/t Bob Knot)

The year in Elder posters

Here are some of the posters I made this year:

If you enjoyed these during the year, why not make a donation to EoZ?

Joe Catron is a member of the International Solidarity Movement and also an active Hamas supporter (once hilariously defending the terror group as pro-women and having a "liberal element") tweeted this last night:

Saint Nicholas not only lived in Palestine, but fought Zionists in the Nakba. Merry Christmas! http://t.co/ooZ8p5tAY9 pic.twitter.com/6z0Gd3mMZQ
— Joe Catron (@jncatron) December 25, 2014

The link goes to an article about the "real" St. Nicholas and how he even today protects the residents of Beit Jala, where is lived for a few years in the fourth century:

When raiding invaders surrounded Beit Jala, attacking it, the townsfolk bravely defended the city. Everytime the attackers tried to take the town an Old Man1 with a lance or spear stopped them in their tracks. It seemed as if even the olive tree branches were beating the invaders back. The raiders later told that the townspeople's bullets had little effect, it was the Old Man who never allowed them to move forward and take the town. An so it was Saint Nicholas who saved Beit Jala.

This protection was repeated again during World War I and II, when it is said that St. Nicholas stretched out over the village, protecting the people.

Locals also report that he was seen with hands outstretched, catching bombs aimed at Beit Jala following the State of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. Many residents took refuge in the church and once again St. Nicholas was seen to block bombs from destroying the church, protecting the people. One resident says, "No bombs reached Beit Jala. Only the tower of the St. Nicholas Church was damaged. We know it was St. Nicholas that saved Beit Jala from any problems."

Benny Morris' histories of the 1948 war do not mention any battles in Beit Jala.

During the second intifada, members of Fatah's Tanzim group took over many Christian homes and buildings to shoot at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo. At least once they directly attacked a Christian leader of the town.

Apparently, Santa doesn't bother protecting the Christians of Beit Jala from Muslim terrorists.

(h/t CiFWatch)

Former Egyptian Mufti claims Jews planted Gharqad trees in Red Sea resort (update)

Former Egyptian Mufti Ali Gomaa invented a novel theory.

As most readers of the blog know, there is an Islamic hadith (that is enshrined in Hamas' charter) that says "The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews."

Ali Gomaa said on TV that the Egyptian Red Sea town of Hurghada was named after the "gharqad" tree, which was planted by Israelis during their occupation of the Sinai, so they would be protected by that tree.

There are a couple of problems with his theory.

For one, Israel never controlled Hurghada, which is on the other side of the Red Sea past Sharm el-Sheikh.

For another, Hurghada has been around for about a hundred years and was named way before Israel was reborn.

The residents of Hurghada are angry at Gomaa's comments, saying that they defended their city from the Jews (which seems doubtful.)

The city actually was named for the tree, incidentally, which is reportedly common along the coast and were used by Red Sea fishermen as meeting places.

UPDATE: MEMRI translation of most of the video:

12/24 Links Pt2: Khaled Abu Toameh wins 2014 Daniel Pearl prize for journalistic courage

From Ian:

Abu Toameh wins 2014 Pearl prize for journalistic courage

Khaled Abu Toameh, a reporter for The Jerusalem Post who has covered Palestinian and Arab affairs for the past three decades, is the recipient of the 2014 Daniel Pearl Award.
The award, named for Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002, recognizes courage and integrity in journalism.
“Khaled Abu Toameh has been telling us, with courage and objectivity, what life is like in the West Bank and Gaza,” said Judea Pearl, father of the dead journalist. “Rarely has a reporter been so successful in penetrating a conflict so complex and remaining consistently and definitively on the side of truth.”
Abu Toameh, an Arab Israeli, studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In addition to the Post he has worked for many media outlets, including the BBC, Voice of America, Wall Street Journal and US News & World Report. He also serves as a distinguished fellow with the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

Parents of beheaded reporter honor victims of Pakistan school massacre

Judea and Ruth Pearl could not turn down the invitation Tuesday to show their support and sympathy for 148 people - 132 children - slaughtered by the Taliban in the same lawless nation where their son was killed more than a dozen years ago.
The Dec. 16 attack at a military school in Peshawar, a city about 75 miles from the country's capital, Islamabad, has torn the mostly Muslim nation apart, but it brought a sadly familiar feeling to the Pearls, whose journalist son was killed in what would eerily foreshadow a decade of mindless brutality that engulfed much of the Middle East.
"Today, we are in worse shape than we were 12 years ago," Ruth Pearl told Pakistani officials and members of an interfaith group that attended the event at the Los Angeles Pakistani consulate. "Let’s hope that can be changed."

JCPA: Unmasking BDS: Radical Roots, Extremist Ends

In Western circles, BDS is commonly misunderstood. It is generally viewed as a progressive, nonviolent campaign led by Palestinian grassroots organizations and propelled by Western human rights groups, who call for boycotting Israeli goods produced in the “occupied” or “disputed” Golan Heights and West Bank territories captured from Syria and Jordan respectively in the 1967 war.
It is also widely assumed that the global BDS movement is further limited to boycott and divestment aimed at Israel’s presence over the 1967 Green Line, resulting in international actions led frequently by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations, at the UN-affiliated International Court of Justice, as well as petitions made to the International Criminal Court.
However, a closer investigation of the BDS movement reveals a starkly different picture. BDS is more accurately described as a political-warfare campaign conducted by rejectionist Palestinian groups in cooperation with radical left-wing groups in the West. BDS leaders and organizations are also linked to the Palestinian Authority leadership, the radical Muslim Brotherhood, other radical groups, terror-supporting organizations, and in some cases even terror groups themselves such as Hamas.
BDS boycott campaigns have effectively misled trade unions, academic institutions, and even leading international artists and cultural icons, with seemingly earnest calls for “justice” entailing the establishment of a Palestinian state living beside a Jewish state. These BDS supporters have been led to believe that the combined pressure of boycotts, divestment, and sanctions will force Israel to withdraw to the 1949 armistice lines, otherwise known as the 1967 Green Line, enabling a resolution of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. However, as some commentators – including the New York Times’ Roger Cohen and Professor Norman Finkelstein – have pointed out, the BDS movement seeks to eliminate Israel even before addressing the Palestinian issue.

Muslims slam plan to renovate the Tomb of Samuel

Israel's Civil Administration recently announced that it will renovate Samuel's Tomb, which has some severe safety problems, such as very steep stairs to reach the underground synagogue at the site, as well as poor lighting.

To get an idea of what it looks like now, and how tiny it is, here's some video I took about two years ago.

Naturally, Muslims are upset at any move to improve a Jewish holy place, calling it "racist persecution.".

The Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Sheikh Yusuf Adeiscalled the planned renovation "religious persecution," which is being practiced by the Israeli government on the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Palestine.

Adeis added that it is purely an Islamic place Israelis are trying to trying to falsify history, geography and culture.

The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs said it make every effort to return the buildings ownership to the Islamic Waqf in Palestine, and will go to all the world cultural and religious institutions to complain of "this new assault on the sensibilities of Muslim believers in Palestine and throughout the world."

There really is a mosque there as well, above and much larger than the synagogue, as as I recall there is even a small food store in the "holy mosque."

The planned improvements will help the Muslims as well, since they include better roads to access the site, but if Jews gain, then they are against it.

Interestingly, the Muslims also say that this is Samuel's tomb. Just they claim that Samuel was a Muslim prophet.(He is never mentioned in the Koran.)

The first time I visited the Tomb of Samuel in 2007, it was right after local Arabs broke into the synagogue, damaged many sacred objects and stole a Torah. Outside of Yeshiva World News, no one reported that story of Muslim desecration of a Jewish shrine.

Ancient Jews Conspired To Legitimize Modern Settlements (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Shiloh, Occupied West Bank, December 24 - Archaeologists have unearthed a vast conspiratorial effort by ancient Israelites to make Jews living in Palestine 3,000 years later look indigenous, scholars are reporting.

Over the last century and a half, diggers have discovered a plethora of artifacts, structures, texts, and other ancient relics of Israelites putting together and conducting a civilization just to undermine the later, more legitimate claim that Muslims have to Palestine. The results were so convincing, in fact, that other ancient peoples took for granted that the Israelites - later known as Jews - were actually connected to the land they inhabited.

The result in modern times, say the scholars, is that millions of Jews have "returned" to Palestine with claim based largely on that ancient conspiracy, as if all the artifacts, structures, texts, and other evidence of Jewish civilization actually represents a civilization that predates the arrival of Palestinians.

"I cannot help but admire the ingenuity of it all," says Bir Zeit University archaeologist Dahab Diggr. "In order to undermine the future entity of Palestine, Jews of the second millennium BCE and onward developed a language, culture, political structure, religion, agriculture, commerce, towns, cities, and even armies. The clever ruse made it seem even to contemporary observers as if those Jews had developed an actual civilization, when in fact the whole time it was all just a conspiracy to deprive Palestinians of the pedigree necessary to make an exclusive claim to the land."

As an example, Diggr cited the use of the names "Israel" and "Judea" in inscriptions, documents, and texts long before the emergence of "Palestine" as the term of choice in the second century of the Common Era. "Given the prior use of the Jewish terms, one might assume that Jews were in Palestine before Palestinians. We always have to be on guard for such phenomena."

He also pointed to the almost exclusive use of Hebrew names for places in Palestine before the arrival of Islam 1300 years ago. "The fact that even the Arabic place names appear to be mere translations or corruptions of 'earlier' Hebrew names was a masterstroke," concedes Diggr. "By taking the future Arabic names, giving them a meaningful Hebrew version, and applying them for more than a thousand years before Arabic became current, the Jews make it seem natural that they have some connection to Palestine."

The effort has been so convincing, say scholars, that not only do most people believe Jews had a civilization in ancient Palestine, but even Jews themselves have forgotten it was all a fraud, and maintain the lore, traditions, and liturgy of longing for a "return" to "Jerusalem" and "Zion," ideas nefariously developed several centuries before the Common Era as a way to establish a spurious prior claim to the later, legitimate Palestinian one.

"I'm sure some of the Jewish leaders in their inner circle of Elders still know it's all a put-up job," says Middle East scholar Reza Stinq. "But the rank-and-file probably has no idea their whole history is fake, so they go on sincerely yearning, and in many cases actually implementing, a 'restoration' of 'ancient' Jewish settlement in Palestine."

"It's a difficult perception to defeat," he notes. "Even Muhammad seems to have accepted it."

12/24 Links Pt1: IDF soldier seriously injured in Gaza border incident; ISIS captures Jordanian Pilot

From Ian:

IDF soldier seriously injured in Gaza border incident

Palestinians opened fire on an Israeli patrol late Wednesday morning along the southern Gaza Strip. One soldier from the Bedouin Reconnaissance Battalion was shot in the chest and severely injured. He was evacuated to a hospital, the IDF said.
The patrol was operating on the Israeli side of the border near Kibbutz Kissufim when it came under sniper and machine gun fire.
Palestinian sources said that a heavy exchange of fire ensued, with IDF tank fire striking a target east of Khan Younis. The air force also fired on Gaza targets.
Palestinians said that the commander of Hamas’s surveillance unit in the area was killed in the IDF response, Israel Radio reported. Hamas fighters were abandoning positions across the Strip, the report said.
Medical sources said Tayseer al-Ismary, 33, died after being hit by a bullet fired by the IDF, while Hamas sources confirmed he was a member of the movement’s military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
“This attack, the second of this week, is a lethal violation of the relative quiet along the Gaza border and is a blatant breach of Israel’s sovereignty,” said IDF spokesman Peter Lerner. “The IDF will continue to use all necessary means in order to maintain the safety of the citizens of southern Israel and will not hesitate to respond to any attempt to harm IDF soldiers.”

'Bomb One Hamas Building For Every Shot Fired' Demands Danon

Likud Central Committee Chairperson MK Danny Danon responded to the sniper fire from Gaza terrorists targeting IDF soldiers on Wednesday morning, in which one soldier was reportedly wounded and a Hamas terrorist leader was killed.
"For every shot from Gaza, we must take down a Hamas building," demanded Danon, after soldiers guarding workers rebuilding the security barrier in southern Gaza came under fire.
"In light of the fact that Hamas has launched a war of attrition against Israel, we must stop all transfer of goods to Gaza to return the strength of deterrence," said Danon. "It is unthinkable that at a time when in Gaza they're firing at us, Hamas receives cement and concrete to be used against us."

Residents in south: Hamas digging near Gaza border

Sightings of what appear to be massive excavation operations along the Gaza Strip border fence have raised serious concerns among residents of the south, following reports that Hamas flags were placed by local Palestinians atop mounds of dirt at the digging sites.
Over the past several days, residents of Netiv Ha’asara, a cooperative agricultural community located near Israel’s border with the Strip, reported a number of instances where bulldozers and trucks were spotted conducting heavy excavation activity close to the security fence, according to Israel Radio.
The residents further reported that a 200-meter-long dirt mound had been raised in the area, with Palestinians workers periodically raising emblems of the Islamist terrorist group above it.
According to the residents of Netiv Ha’asara, which is just 50 meters from Israel’s border with the Strip, the recent digging is the first such operation to have taken place since the conclusion of this summer’s war between Israel and Hamas.

UN Watch: UN Gaza inquiry issues Arabic calls for submissions — but not Hebrew

Although the UNHRC’s Schabas Commission on Gaza has insisted that it cares about hearing from Israeli victims, and although they have a budget of more than $2 million, the following call for submissions was sent out in English and Arabic — but not in Hebrew. The UN inquiry’s website similarly has only the Arabic translation. The procedure for submissions is listed at the bottom.