Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

12/30 Links Pt1: Mahmoud Abbas is again insisting on failure; Fmr Swedish PM tweets satire as news

From Ian:

Mahmoud Abbas is again insisting on failure

What could explain such maneuvering? Some diplomats suspect Mr. Abbas wants his maximalist resolution to be voted down — just as previous Palestinian attempts failed to obtain the necessary eight of 15 votes. By not forcing the United States into a veto, the Palestinian leader could preserve his lines of communication with Washington while obtaining a pretext to move on to his next pointless initiative — which could be seeking Palestinian membership in the International Criminal Court.
Accession to the court wouldn’t bring Palestinians any closer to statehood, and it might expose the Hamas movement to war crimes prosecution. It could cause Congress to cut off the U.S. aid that now sustains the Palestinian Authority. But Mr. Abbas and his aides have recently been suggesting they would have “no choice” but to proceed if they obtain no satisfaction from the Security Council.
Mr. Abbas does, of course, have a choice. He could endorse the framework laboriously negotiated by Secretary of State John F. Kerry and challenge Mr. Netanyahu — or his successor after Israel’s upcoming election — to resume negotiations. Statehood would then be on the table — but the 79-year-old Palestinian leader would have to commit himself formally to compromises he has until now discussed only in private with U.S. and Israeli leaders. Rather than lobby at the United Nations, he would have to attempt for the first time to sell those concessions to his own people.
Mr. Abbas has, on several previous occasions, dodged that challenge. So no one should be surprised if he now insists on losing another vote at the United Nations.

Israel’s enemies reload

Continuing to show utter contempt for Israel as it seeks a durable peace with its neighbors, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are again working to perpetuate an endless war with the Jewish state.
Monday, Jordan submitted to the UN Security Council, on behalf of Mahmoud Abbas’ PA, a draft resolution creating a strict timeline for Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders.
Never mind profound and legitimate Israeli fears about security — rubbed raw by an elaborate network of Gaza terror tunnels exposed during this year’s hostilities with Hamas, followed by a fresh wave of PA-incited terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in recent weeks.
Never mind that Israel has been ready and willing to negotiate a deal in good faith — only to run head-first into a Palestinian leadership with no interest whatsoever in coexistence.
Fortunately, the United States sees through the ruse, with the State Department condemning the resolution for setting “arbitrary deadlines,” which are “more likely to curtail useful negotiations than to bring them to a successful conclusion.”

Former Swedish PM tweets satire as news

The official Twitter account of the former prime minister of Sweden tweeted a satirical news report about an Israeli travel warning to Sweden as fact on Monday.
Carl Bildt, who served as Sweden’s prime minister from 1991-1994 and as foreign minister between 2006 and September of this year, tweeted the article by the Onion-style blog PreOccupied Territory, titled “Israel Issues Travel Warning For US, France, Sweden,” saying: “Israel has officially warned its citizens not to travel to Sweden. That’s somewhat of an overreaction.”
After about an hour, during which many users tweeted at him to tell him that the article was satirical, Bildt removed the link.
The report, published on Thursday, fictitiously reported that Jerusalem’s Foreign Ministry had issued a travel warning for Israeli tourists to stay out of several First World countries for fear of ethnic violence, highlighting internal turmoil in the United States, France and Sweden.

From Gulf News:

Foreigners who practice the Jewish faith are allowed to work in Saudi Arabia, a labour ministry source said.

“The ministry does not mind issuing employment visas to Jews as it deals with nationalities, and not with religions,” the source said, quoted by local daily Al Watan on Tuesday.

“Saudi Arabia does not oppose dealing with any religion and this is clearly demonstrated in the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.”

The centre, located in the Austrian capital Vienna, was founded to enable, empower and encourage dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures around the world. It introduces itself on its site as “an independent and autonomous international organisation, free of political or economic influence.”

“For example, if a worker has the Yemeni nationality and the Jewish faith, he is allowed to work in the kingdom because the ministry does not look at religions, but at nationalities,” the source said.

The ministry’s website lists Judaism among the 10 religions whose practitioners can fill in working applications.

Shura Council Member Sadaqa Bin Yahya Fadhel said that the labour ministry’s decision to allow Jewish workers was “correct.”

“We Muslims do not have a problem with Jews or Christians,” he said. Our major issue is with the Zionist Movement which exploits the Jewish faith to promote and serve its own agenda.”

He added the distinction between Jews and Zionists should always be made clear.

“We can deal with anyone from any religion, and the ministry is right as long as it does not deal with Israelis. As a kingdom, we do welcome all religions, but we cannot accept Israelis because they are linked to Zionism, a colonialist movement that uses and takes advantage of the Jewish faith. Judaism has nothing to do with this movement,” he told the Saudi daily.

This story is getting a lot of play in Arabic media.

In 2004, a Saudi tourism website listed the categories of people who could not visit, including Israeli passport holders or those with a passport containing an Israeli stamp; "those who don't abide by the Saudi traditions concerning appearance and behaviours"; "those under the influence of alcohol"; and "Jewish people". That last part was quickly deleted after an outcry.

Joshua Muravchik actually visited Saudi Arabia in 2007, and he wrote that he was Jewish in his visa application. He sneaked in a Jewish prayer book but his luggage was not inspected. People say being caught with any religious items will cause one to be banned on entry.

On the other hand, earlier this year a Jewish American journalist for the Jerusalem Post, who does not hold Israeli citizenship, was denied a visa by Saudi Arabia even after some While House arm-twisting. (Saudi Arabia no longer issues tourist visas.)

It is interesting that this is being publicized now. I wonder if Saudi Arabia is trying to engage in some PR.

NYT chooses a Gaza child to symbolize all child deaths in war this year (update)

Here is a scan of a page from the New York Times Magazine this past weekend, using a Gaza child named Tala Akram al-Atawi ,who was killed over the summer, to symbolize all children killed in war:

From looking at this page, one would get the impression that except for South Sudan, more children were killed in Gaza than in any other conflict this year, and that over 20% of all child deaths - the very large-font 2,500 - were caused by Israel.

When you look a little closer, you see that the Times didn't bother to even estimate the number of children killed in Syria or Pakistan. Which is very interesting, given that this article was published soon after 132 children were brutally murdered in a Pakistan school in a single day. They weren't killed accidentally, not as part of a larger operation: they were targeted for death.

But none of those children merit having the New York Times write about the anguish of their families or their doctors.

The Syria Observatory for Human Rights counted 251 children killed in Syria - in October alone. Another 152 in November. From April through July, over 1000 children were killed. It seems a reasonable estimate of over 2500 children killed in Syria this year alone, making the "2500" graphic a joke. It is well over double that number just including Pakistan and Syria, and publishing even a low estimate would have made the story much more effective - if the goal of the story was to show how widespread children's deaths were.

UPDATE: The SOHR says that 3501 children were killed in Syria alone in 2014. (h/t Conormel)

While the 538 killed in Gaza is probably accurate and may even be high (there were some 17 year olds killed who were voluntary militants,) , the other numbers are ridiculously low. In South Sudan, between 50,000 and 100,000 people were killed this year - so chances are very good that far, far more than 600 children were killed. it is not out of the realm of possibility that closer to 6000 were killed.

In Iraq, some 16,000 civilians were killed this year. Historically, children have been about 9% of the civilian casualties. So it is reasonable to estimate that closer to 1500 children were killed this year in Iraq, instead of "416."

The NYTimes could have provided estimates, or even a low estimate, if the goal was to highlight how horrible the problem of children in war zones is.

It gets worse. Because the NYT only chose certain conflicts to bother to mention. The UN lists over 20 nations that have seen children killed or recruited as soldiers over the past couple of years - as opposed to the NYT's 8 nations.

So why would the New York Times put up this gigantic graphic of the number "2,500" when the actual number of children killed this year from war is probably closer to (and possibly much higher than) 10,000?

Here's a guess.

Anne Barnard had a great, tear-jerker of a story about a Gaza girl. She didn't want to highlight it in the end of year issue without any context because CAMERA would start a letter writing campaign about their anti-Israel bias. So the Times decided to do a half-assed job of pretending that Tala al-Atawi is somehow representative of the children who have been beheaded in Iraq and Syria, raped, and slaughtered in so many other countries.

No one, outside of Hamas and its supporters, is happy that Tala Akram al-Atawi was killed, She was not a target and Israelis don't celebrate her death.. If you are going to write a story about the horrors of war for children, in a world where children are being recruited as soldiers and targeted by crazed Islamists, she is a very poor example.

But if the real goal is to demonize Israel - and to make a half hearted attempt to hide that demonization from behind a flurry of artificially low casualty numbers from other conflicts - then the New York Times succeeded quite well.

(h/t DM and EBoZ)

Saudi anchor

From Arab News:

The Shoura Council is expected to discuss amendments to the audiovisual law on Tuesday that would impose a mandatory dress code for TV presenters on Saudi-funded private channels, including an abaya and scarf for women news readers and anchors.

Noura Al-Odwan, a woman member of the Shoura, has reportedly convinced the culture and media affairs committee to present the controversial proposal at the consultative council for discussion.

The new move comes a few weeks after Al-Odwan criticized the appearance of some presenters, saying they used too much makeup, drawing flak from the male Shoura members and female anchors.

The proposal demands adding an article on the dress code to the country’s audiovisual media law.

Al-Odwan insisted that the appearance of some female anchors on official channels, where she said they are showing off their beauty, would have a negative impact on the Kingdom’s international reputation.

When the idea was first floated, Saudi women anchors were mixed in their reactions:

Several Saudi female TV anchors have reacted angrily to a recent statement by a Shoura Council member in which she criticized the anchors as being too “extravagant and wearing too much makeup.”

They said Nora Al-Adwan’s criticism is unacceptable and degrades the work these women are doing for their country. “Those who criticize Saudi media only want to put down the accomplishments of Saudi women and destroy the image of our country,” said presenter Afaf Al-Mohsin in response to the remarks.

She added that the colorful, yet modest, jilbabs and abayas worn by them are no different from others as long as they both cover the body and are conservative.

Afrah Jaafar, also a presenter, agreed, arguing that “all the clothing choices made by female Saudi presenters are very modest, since Saudi television represents the country as an Islamic state and so they are keen not to cross any red lines.”

Presenter Arafat Al-Majid said she is in favor of setting uniform standards, such as the abaya, for Saudi presenters, because varied outfits may create jealousy and problems between presenters.

“I agree that some presenters go overboard with the makeup, but there are many others who do not,” she said. “Makeup is required for the camera and lighting.”

In August, a female anchor who went on Saudi TV with her hair uncovered caused a huge backlash which may be what prompted Noura al-Odwan to begin her crusade.

12/29 Links Pt2: How to fight a civilized war against an uncivilized enemy; PA: Jesus was a Palestinian

From Ian:

Wiesenthal Center top 10 list: Worst global anti-Semitic/anti-Israel incidents of 2014

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has ranked the 10 worst outbreaks of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in 2014. Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the human rights organization, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that this year’s list seeks to show how anti-Semitic “rhetoric at the top has filtered down to average people.”
Hier said the center deliberately chose not to include principal Arab leaders and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan because the ranking system reveals the spread of hate on a grassroots level.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean, told the Post that Europe dominated the list of incidents of Israel hatred and anti-Semitic violence, with six mentions.
The No. 1 slot went to a doctor in Belgium who refused to provide medical care to a 90-year-old Jewish woman with a fractured rib. He told her son, who had requested the care: “Send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she will get rid of the pain. I’m not coming,” and hung up.

The tale of 2014, told in 14 Times of Israel stories

The year began with hopes that 2014 would see peace talks with the Palestinians bear fruit, lawmakers broker deals to manage the economy, Syria end its civil war, Europe remain a safe place for Jews, the Arab world open up to us and Iran’s nuclear plans get thwarted. A year later, little has been resolved and many new tears have been opened in the fabric of Israeli and Jewish society, not to mention around the world.
Yet even in the darkest times, there was light and there was humanity. Grassroots efforts to spread understanding and heal rifts were ubiquitous, even in unexpected places, like the West Bank junction where three teens were kidnapped or the mourning tent of a Palestinian boy killed in revenge. The deaths of lone soldiers in Gaza brought out the best in tens of thousands, who escorted those they never knew on their final journeys. A Jewish man, in prison for years in Cuba, was freed amid a historic détente.
Through it all, The Times of Israel has attempted to bring a deeper understanding of Israel, the Jewish world and the wider universe to our readers. Looking back, these 14 stories, culled from some 20,000 published over the year, paint a picture of our year, the good, the bad, the parts we’d rather forget and those we will cherish as we move into the maw of 2015’s great unknown.

Alan Dershowitz: A Brandeis student refuses to show sympathy for assassinated policemen – and her critic is attacked

As I watched, with tears in my eyes, the funeral of police officer Rafael Ramos who was ambushed along with fellow officer, Wenjian Liu, in revenge for the deaths of two black young men who were killed by policemen, I could not help thinking of the following horrible words tweeted by a bigoted young woman named Khadijah Lynch, on the day the police officers were murdered in cold blood:
“I have no sympathy for the NYPD officers who were murdered today. IMAO, all I just really don’t have sympathy for the cops who were shot. I hate this racist, f…ing country.”
Khadijah Lynch is a Brandeis University junior who at the time she wrote the tweet was the undergraduate representative in the Brandeis African and Afro-American studies department.
Nor was this her first bigoted tweet. She has apparently described her college as “a social themed institution grounded in Zionism. Word. That a f…ing fanny dooly.” And she cannot understand why “black people have not burned this country down….” She describes herself as “in riot mode. F… this f…ing country.” She has apparently said that she would like to get a gun and has called for an intifada: “Amerikkka needs an intifada. Enough is enough. “ “What the f… even IS ‘non-violence’. “
Ms. Lynch is certainly entitled to express such despicable views- either in public or in private - just as Nazis, Klansmen and other bigots are entitled to express theirs. But when another Brandeis student, named Daniel Mael, decided to post her public tweets on a website, Lynch threatened to sue him for “slander”. Republishing someone’s own published words could not possibly constitute slander, libel or any other form of defamation, because you can’t be slandered, by your own words. You can, of course, be embarrassed, condemned, ostracized or “unfriended” by your own words, as Donald Sterling, the former owner of the LA Clippers, was. But Sterling’s bigoted words were never intended to be public, whereas Lynch’s tweets were publically circulated.

Iran claims Israel occupies strategic Saudi islands

The ever hilarious PressTV reports:(video story begins about 1:00)

Saudi Arabia and Western governments have for decades remained silent on the occupation of Saudi islands by Israel, Press TV reports.

Tiran and Sanafir islands, with respective areas of 80 and 33 sq kilometers, are located at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, east of the Saudi territory.

They belonged to Saudi Arabia until 1967 when King Faisal gave control of the islands to Egypt to prevent Israel from sending its ships to Eilat station during the Six-Day war. The islands were then occupied by Israel.

Actually, Saudi Arabia gave control of the islands to Egypt in 1949, specifically to allow Egypt to blockade Israel.

Yes, Arab nations hated Israel so much that they would willingly give up their own territory to hurt Israel, just as Syria no longer asserts claims to the Shebaa Farms in order to allow Lebanon to continue to claim that Israel occupies its territory and give Hezbollah pretexts to attack,

Following the war, when Egypt’s Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1978, he refused to mention the status of the islands as part of the agreement, saying they belonged to Saudi Arabia. But interestingly, Riyadh has not commented on the status of the islands since.

Some say the islands are just too small for Saudi Arabia to raise a claim on, but some argue that it is not the case as Saudis have fought with Yemen over the control of Hanish Islands that are approximately the same size.

The islands of Tiran and Sanafir are strategically very important as the control over them effectively means the control over the entrance to Gulf of Aqaba and this is Israel’s only way to the Red Sea.

Isn't it heartwarming that Iran cares so much about Saudi Arabia to let them know that they seem to have misplaced some islands?

So what's the truth?

In 1951, Egypt declared that it would allow sea traffic of "friendly countries" through the straits and it would seize "enemy" vessels.

In 1955 Israel announced that it was completing the port of Eilat and that it intended to use the Straits in order to access the Indian Ocean, and it will do whatever is necessary to ensure safe passage. In response, Egypt tightened the rules of who could pass, and gave the sole authority for allowing ships to pass to the - get this - "Regional Boycotting Office for Israel."

During the 1956 Sinai campaign, Israel occupied the islands, and gave control over to UNEF in 1957. Nasser, of course, expelled UNEF in May 1967 and took over the islands again.

Israel did occupy the two islands in 1967 - but they gave control over to the Multinational Force (meant to keep the peace between Israel and Egypt, mostly in the Sinai) in 1982. They control the islands today.

From Global Security:

Observation Post 3-11 is located on Tiran Island, five miles off Sinai's coast in the Gulf of Aqaba. OP 3-11 is manned by U.S. troops who monitor Israeli and Egyptian naval and maritime activities in the strategically vital area where the Gulf meets the Red Sea. Tiran Island now belongs to Saudi Arabia and is leased by Egypt so that the observation post can be operated there. The actual OP is located on the island's western edge, more than 800 feet tip a cliff wall overlooking heavily mined beaches. The island is accessible from the water in a few locations, but the OP's location and the treacherous slopes leading up to it make resupply by any combination of sea and ground transport almost impossible. The OP 3-11 troops therefore rely on the slingload missions flown on Thursday and Sunday mornings by UH-1's of the South Camp Aviation Platoon for their transportation to and from work, as well as for food, water, mail, fuel and just about everything else.

Observation Point 3-11 is about as big as Paradise Shoppette. It contains everything a Soldier needs, plus a few luxuries -- hot showers, full service kitchen and a day room. While on watch, Soldiers worked in three-man teams. The teams consisted of one noncommissioned officer, and two junior enlisted Soldiers. They rotated between three different shifts, pulling the same shift for two days, then rotating to another shift for two days. Once the Soldiers completed the third shift, they had a day off from guard watch.

One of those slingload missions can be seen on YouTube along with a slideshow of the island:

PressTV didn't even think up of this lie on their own. This entire report, including the "Google search" part on the video, was in this 2010 article from the equally unreliable Middle East Monitor.

(h/t Lawrence)

From Egypt Independent:

The Alexandria Administrative Court has banned the celebration of the Abu Hasira [Abuhatzeira] festival saying it violates public orders.

“The Jews have not had any particular impact on the Egyptian civilization. They did not contribute to the human knowledge of history of the civilization,” the court said.

According to the verdict, the court canceled the culture minister's 2001 decision considering the mausoleum, the surrounding Jewish tombs and the hill in the village of Damtu, outside Damanhour, among other Islamic and Coptic monuments.

It also ordered the minister in charge of monuments affairs to remove the mausoleum from Islamic and Coptic monuments records as it does not enjoy all of the archaeological characteristics and informing the UNESCO’s international heritage committee to remove it from the records.

The verdict also rejected the Israeli request to the UNESCO requesting the transfer of the mortal remains to Jerusalem, saying that Islam refuses to dig up the graves and that Jerusalem is occupied by Israel, which means that existence of such mausoleum on the Arab land of Palestine would add legitimacy of the Israel.

The festival, scheduled for 9 to 10 January, is held on the annual anniversary of the death of a 19th-century Jewish rabbi Abu Hasira, who was born in Egypt and traveled to Morocco, according to the Jewish folklore.

So because they respect graves so much they will remove the site from any international cultural protection so the residents of the village, who are overwhelmingly antisemitic, can do what they want to the shrine.

Now, that's respect.

More from Reuters:

The court said its decision was due to "moral offences" committed in previous years at the three-day festival celebrating the birth of Rabbi Jacob Abu Hasira. It did not elaborate on what the offences were.

Jews, mostly from outside Egypt, have congregated every year at the 19th century tomb around Jan. 1 even though the festival was canceled for security reasons after the 2011 uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

Monday's ruling would make the ban permanent unless a higher court overturns it on appeal.

What were these "moral offenses?"

Egyptians have been making ludicrous claims about the celebrants for years. For example, in 2008:

[Jews] often start the celebration that get out of hand, where there is an auction for who will enter his tomb first , followed by alcoholic operations spilled over the cemetery, and then the slaughter of sacrifices that are often sheep or pigs, roasting meat, and dancing. Celebrants then hysterically sing Jewish melodies as they become almost naked, and then say some prayers, entreaties and tears to the tomb, burning, beating their heads in the Wailing Wall and asked for their needs, according to witnesses.

In 2011:

A female residents said that the Jews drink alcohol, which is forbidden in Islam, to be blessed as part of their veneration of the rabbi.

"The Jewish visitors usually get drunk and engage in obscene dancing during the celebrations," the woman, who asked not to be identified, said, demanding that the Abu Hasira festival should be cancelled after the revolution and the deposing of Mubarak, whom she dismissed as Israel's friend.

2013:

The Jewish men and women dance together while listening to jazz music.

Afterwards, the tourists make lots of noise and would bring sheep and goats. They slaughter them from the top of the neck, "contrary to Islamic law." (Kosher slaughter is not done that way.)

The meat is eaten together with "all kinds of imported wines next to a cocktail of cigarettes stuffed full of drugs."

The, naturally, the Jews turn off the lights and have an orgy, with sex being freely practiced in the tomb itself.

Those wild Jews!

In 2010, Jews visiting the grave were greeted with signs from local residents, in Hebrew, saying "Death to the Jews." So we know they will treat the shrine with all the respect that they can muster.

12/29 Links Pt1: What the Palestinian Authority Did Not Tell the UNSC; Jerusalem terrorist attack foiled

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: What the Palestinian Authority Did Not Tell the UN Security Council

Last week, Jordan submitted to the Security Council a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by the end of 2017 and a peace deal within a year.
But what the Palestinians did not tell the Security Council is that the state they seek to establish is one that does not respect public freedoms, first and foremost freedom of expression.
This would be a state where people are detained and intimidated for using social media to express their views. It will also be a state where the president or any of his senior officials could order the arrest of anyone who dares to speak out against lack of democracy and reforms.
The draft resolution that was submitted to the Security Council fails to mention the fact that the Palestinian Authority is harassing and persecuting political opponents and critics, including Facebook users.
Moreover, the PA does not want the Security Council and the rest of the international community to know that, in the future Palestinian state, female journalists, writers and political activists can be detained for interrogation and threatened because of their work.

Two east Jerusalem brothers indicted for planning terrorist attack in capital

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Monday filed an indictment against two east Jerusalem brothers for working with Hamas to carry out a major terrorist attack in the capital.
According to the indictment, the brothers, aged 28 and 23, were recruited by a Hamas operative in the Gaza Strip to form a terror cell in Jerusalem to carry out the unspecified attack at a public venue.
While the details of the planned attack and the investigation into it remain unclear, the brothers have been charged with joining a terrorist organization, conspiracy, theft and other offenses.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said security personnel continue to investigate potential accomplices of the suspects.

PA minister legitimizes murdering Israelis

Ali Sa’ada, a terrorist prisoner who murdered a father and his one-year-old baby, was fined 3.5 million shekels by Israel. That fine is “delegitimizing ‎the [Palestinian] national resistance,” says Prisoners’ Affairs Authority Director ‎and PA Parliament Member Issa Karake. According to Karake, who holds the rank of ‎minister, the killing of one-year-old Israelis is legitimate “resistance.”‎
In his capacity as Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Karake has a long history of glorifying terrorist murderers, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.
Karake defines being a victim of Palestinian terror as “being exposed to resistance by Palestinians”:
“[Israeli] courts have been... passing sentences on prisoners that force them to pay large sums in financial compensation to Israelis who have been exposed to resistance by Palestinians.” [WAFA (the official Palestinian news agency), Dec. 16, 2014]

Gisha is an Israel-based NGO that calls itself the "legal center for freedom of movement" concentrating on the rights of Gazans and goods to go in and out of Gaza.

While it has a website, a blog and a Twitter account, somehow it missed this widely reported story:

A group of 37 orphans from Gaza Strip were prevented from crossing into Israel Sunday after Hamas backtracked from a deal reached to allow the kids to tour the Jewish state, saying the tour was an attempt to "brainwash" the kids. The indicent took place amid claims of clashes along the border between the IDF and Palestinians.

The group, comprised of children aged 5 to 12 whose fathers were killed in the 50-day summer war between Hamas and Israel, were all ready to go at the border crossing with Israel when Hamas rescinded its initial agreement to the visit.

Wouldn't this be right up Gisha's alley - Gazans being denied the right to freely travel? Not to mention that they are orphans! How could Gisha miss this?

A look through their archives finds that it missed some other stories as well: my story earlier today of Hamas blocking certain Israeli items from being imported, Hamas not allowing sick Gaza children from traveling to Egypt, Hamas stopping human rights workers from leaving Gaza, Hamas banning Fatah politicians from going to the West Bank, and others - all that involve daily violations of the rights of movement by Hamas against Gazans that are even more restrictive than Israeli regulations.

Gisha will talk about Egyptian closures of the Rafah crossing. But as far as I can tell, this Israeli NGO cannot find a negative thing to say about Hamas actions hurting the freedom of movement of people and goods from and to Gaza!

Gisha has a budget of about a million dollars a year, and is funded by donors such as the European Commission, United Kingdom, Oxfam GB, Trocaire, Oxfam Novib (the Netherlands), Irish Aid, Norway, UNDP, Broederlijk Delen, and NDC (joint funding from Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands).

Isn't it interesting that such a lavishly funded NGO will not say anything against a terror group that violates every aspect of freedom of movement in Gaza that Gisha supposedly monitors?

Gisha claims to be non-partisan - yet it cannot find anything wrong with Hamas actions in Gaza against its people. That is a pretty large blind spot for a "non-partisan" organization.

UPDATE: I guess I embarrassed them. Two days after I wrote this post, and four days after Hamas denied the children from exiting, Gisha reported on the story, saying "it’s unfortunate that Hamas officials also obstruct travel for political reasons."

Amazing that UNRWA can say this with a straight face

The most recent report of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA to the UN, covering 2013, includes this head-scratcher of a line:

"The situation also affected the 1.9 million registered Palestine refugees in the State of Palestine."

So on one hand the UN and UNRWA recognize the "State of Palestine." On the other hand, they consider citizens of this state to be refugees from that same state!

A week ago, I had a brief Twitter discussion with Rex Brynen, an UNRWA apologist professor at McGill University, who claimed that UNHCR and UNRWA definitions for "refugees" were virtually identical.

UPDATE: As Brynen points out in a response, since he admits that Jordanian citizens wouldn't be considered refugees, it is not accurate for me to characterize his views of the definitions as "virtually identical." He did, in this Twitter discussion before he disappeared, seem to try hard to equate the two and to defend UNRWA's indefensible definition.

He said that all of todays' UNRWA refugees would be considered "derivative refugees" under UNHCR rules, pointing out a tiny minority of third-generation refugees under UNHCR auspices in Afghanistan (I believe there are some in Somalia as well.)

When I asked why he considers those in the West Bank and Gaza to be refugees even though they live in "Palestine," he replied that they were stateless.

(He never answered that, nor my many follow-up questions about UNRWA.and his fawning article supporting the Chris Gunness article I thoroughly fisked.)

So (at least according to Brynen) the reason that 1.9 million people in the "State of Palestine" are refugees is because they are stateless - at the very same time that UNRWA claims that they are citizens of a state called Palestine!

As far as I can tell, there is no official definition of "citizen" under PA law. Their Basic Law, article 7, just says "Palestinian citizenship shall be regulated by law" without defining what it is. A 1995 draft law for defining citizenship is noteworthy: someone is considered a citizen if he/she "(1) was a holder of Palestinian citizenship (other than Jews) before 15 May 1948; (2) was born to a Palestinian father; (3) was born in Palestine to a Palestinian mother even if the citizenship of the father is not known; (4) was born in Palestine to unknown parents; and (5) was born outside of Palestine to a Palestinian mother and to a father whose nationality was not known – provided that this person opts for Palestinian citizenship within one year after reaching maturity, that he notifies the minister of interior of his intention to become a Palestinian citizen, that he becomes habitually a resident of Palestine, and that the minister does not object to this applicant within one year from the time he receives the notice from the applicant."

At any rate, it seems clear that the PA considers all residents to be citizens of a UN-recognized state. To say that 1.9 million of them are "refugees" is the height of absurdity.

And one that UNRWA is happy to say publicly.

(We're not even talking about the 1.8 million or so with Jordanian citizenship, which even Brynen admits are clearly not refugees - so about 75% of the 5 million so-called UNRWA registered "refugees" have UN-recognized citizenship.)

Hamas bans import of batteries, appliances from Israel

Palestine Press reports that Hamas has banned the import of various electric and electronic devices from Israel, including batteries, refrigerators, washing machines, computer monitors and CRTs.

The reason given is because of the environmental impact of disposing of them.

And another reason: because they are not energy-efficient.

An additional reason was given: "The import fees benefit only the Israeli treasury without any returns on the Palestinian national economy."

There is an old rule of thumb that when someone gives multiple reasons for doing something, chances are that none of them are true. If I had to guess, I'd think that Hamas is worried about Israel inserting spy equipment in electronic devices.

The impact to Gazans for this new rule?

Oh, since when does Hamas care about the people it rules?

Two Hamas cartoons

This one I posted on Twitter a few days ago:

And this one is in response to the story today about Hamas not allowing kids to leave Gaza to meet Israelis:

Jordanian sheikh repents for his fatwa allowing Jews to worship on Temple Mount (update: with translation)

I reported that a Jordanian sheikh, Yassin Al-'Ajlouni, who had called on Jordanian authorities to allow Jews to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount, in the spirit of Islamic religious tolerance.

In response, the Jordanian Iftaa Department issued their own fatwa against Sheikh Yassin Al-'Ajlouni, calling him "ignorant" and having "no legitimacy."

Now, Yassin Al-'Ajlouni has repented of his Jew-loving ways, with a new video (now translated) where he retreats from his earlier opinion:

Also, he published a poem on his Facebook page calling on Jews to abandon any plans to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and to convert to Islam, saying that Islam will be victorious over the Jews so there is time to switch sides before it is too late.

Sort of like how he switched sides in the face of threats.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

The year in EoZ videos

Some of my videos from this year:

(December 2013 but close enough)

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Last Thursday, I scooped all English-language media with the news that Egypt and Morocco were banning the Ridley Scott biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings" because it implied that Jews built the Pyramids and that the splitting of the sea was done by an earthquake. Later Egypt also said that the movie was "Zionist."

A day or two later, the story had been picked up by major news services - first the Egyptian ban and then the ban in Morocco.

Now, the supposedly moderate and modern UAE has decided to ban the movie as well.

Juma Obaid Al Leem, the media content director at the National Media Council of the United Arab Emirates, announced they will prevent the screening of the film in theaters in the UAE because of the "religious mistakes" in the film, not only Islam related, but also inaccuracies for other religions.

You read it here first. As usual.

(If getting the most accurate news first is important to you, then please consider donating to EoZ. I do stuff like this all the time without usually bragging that I scooped the world. I'd rather not put up obnoxious pop-ups asking for money like other sites do at the end of the year, so if you think this is valuable, look at the right-hand sidebar to donate.)