Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 08, 2016

Hamas releases video showing how beautiful Gaza is

This is part of a social media campaign Hamas is embarking on ahead of local elections, with the hashtag (in Arabic) of "Thanks_Hamas!"

Of course, they must show off their accomplishment of creating rockets that could reach millions of Jews.

Nearly all of the grown women pictured have a hijab.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

08/08 Links Pt1: World Vision: a Christian charity on an anti-Israel mission; PA Police Break Legs of Arab Children

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Terrorist Aid Hijacking and NGO Oversight Failure: Learning from the World Vision Case

NGO Monitor identified World Vision as susceptible to aid diversion in its 2015 book, Filling in the Blanks, concluding that there is “little doubt as to World Vision’s willingness to negotiate and coordinate with armed groups. This raises questions as to whether the group would prevent components of its aid from being misappropriated by terrorist organizations, if it felt that taking a stand would jeopardize the organization’s ability to continue its operations in a given area.”
The failure to properly prevent the siphoning of funds stems in part from a lack of will on the part of humanitarian organizations. Many international NGOs reject attempts to incorporate security concerns into funding guidelines, decrying them as politically motivated. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has argued that legislation designed to prevent hijacking of aid by terrorist organizations should not apply to humanitarian groups, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has stated that “counter-terrorism measures remain the primary obstacle to humanitarian action within Gaza.”
Humanitarian NGOs operate in conflict zones around the world, risking the diversion of aid by terrorist groups. The recent decision by USAID to suspend its humanitarian assistance to Syria due to this issue, as well as the multiple UN reports on commandeering of aid by terrorist organizations in Somalia, underscore this point.
Prof. Gerald Steinberg adds that, “World Vision’s failures in Gaza highlight the problems of a multi-billion dollar NGO industry that remains largely unregulated and unexamined. While World Vision is currently the focus of attention following the arrest of El-Halabi and the scale of the allegations, this should be a cautionary moment for many other international aid organizations that have similar operations in Gaza, such as Oxfam, Care, Christian Aid, and UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.”
As NGO Monitor has warned repeatedly, humanitarian efforts in warzones are inherently susceptible to extortion and theft by violent actors, including terrorist organizations. In particular, Hamas has a history of raiding aid warehouses and convoys as well as developing tax schemes designed to skim money off of international largesse. UN Gaza aid mechanisms similarly suffer from corruption, compromising the integrity of imported materials. Any consideration of humanitarian projects in Gaza must, therefore, include vigorous, concrete, and effective policies that address the risk of aid diversion, both on the part of the implementing organization and on the part of the funder.

IDF Blog: Aerial photo reveals Hamas misuse of international donations to Gaza

Donations from the United Kingdom made to the Christian aid organization World Vision were used by Hamas to build one of such 70 military bases that operate in Gaza. The allegations are part of the June 15, 2016 arrest of Mohammed El-Halabi, a senior World Vision worker facing charges of funneling $43 million in charity funds to Hamas.
Eighty thousand dollars of aid donated to World Vision by the United Kingdom, which was intended to help the civilians of Gaza, build badly-needed infrastructure, and provide food and medical care to those in need, was instead invested in building a Hamas military base and pocketed by the terrorists who constructed it.
“In this compound we have identified surveillance and observation capabilities facing north, towards Israel.” IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. “I can also tell you that in June 2015 we targeted components within the compound following a rocket attack against Israel.” The active Hamas military base, codenamed “Palestine,” was built, among other things, for close-quarter combat training in the northern Gaza city of Jabalia, the third-largest Gazan city. The relatively large base is 600 by 200 meters, and is a short distance from residential buildings, as seen in the below declassified aerial map.
The World Vision investigation exposed that sixty percent of the charity group’s annual budget was funneled to terror activities by Halabi, the Palestinian manager of the World Vision’s Gaza branch. Forty three million dollars of aid earmarked for agriculture, treatment for the disabled, and public health was instead used by Hamas to buy weapons, build military bases, and fund the construction of tunnels, which were used in the past to kidnap Israeli soldiers and stage attacks against Israel.

World Vision: a Christian charity on an anti-Israel mission

I would like someone to explain to me how pumping millions of dollars of good Christians' money to the radical Islamic terror regime of Hamas, the Palestinian Arab wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose history is replete with oppressing the people of Gaza and killing all opposition to its stranglehold and whose founding charter expresses their desire for a global Islamic Caliphate and for the murder of Jews, advances the aims of World Vision.
Unless proven otherwise, it seems to me that World Vision has been so blind to the injustice done to the Jewish state by Hamas and Palestinian terror that it has been deliberately myopic to the massive misuse of money that has been eagerly used by Hamas in their vain attempt to attack Israel and kill Jews.
Either Hamas has exploited World Vision, or World Vision has exploited its global donors. There is no other explanation for what has been exposed.
Truth be told, the fund-raising appeal that appears on World Vision’s official website, so full of anti-Israel false statements, makes me feel that the former is true, unless they can convince me otherwise.
As I write this report, Australia and Germany have suspended their funding to World Vision for spending on Palestinian causes. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. I hope we will hear that the US Administration and all Americans will refuse to donate to World Vision until they put their house in order and return to their original Christian charitable roots.

Look at all of those Talmudic Jews!

From Egyptian news site El-Shamal News, which looks like a normal, respectable news site based on the stories on its front page.

Global Talmudic Zionism has succeeded in planting a Talmudic Zionist gang who are staunch enemies of Islam and Muslims in the very land of Muhammad, since the 284-year-old when Zionism succeeded and convinced Britain to install the Mordechai family whose lineage started with the Jews of Khaybar to take the name of the Al-Saud and (Britain) enabled them and international Zionism to British colonial occupation of the Hijaz led by the name of Muhammad ibn Saud and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab who have committed the most heinous crimes against the people of Hijaz and the people of Iraq.

(More on the supposed jewish origin of the Saud family can be seen in lots of conspiracy websites like this.)

The Talmudic family is hungry for the killing of Muslims for several reasons:

First: the revenge of their ancestors for the (massacre of the) Jews of Khybar.

Secondly, because the Talmud says to kill a lot of non-Jews to draw near to God and enters the supreme paradise. Therefore the Wahhabists killed more than 600,000 Muslims in addition to the thousands of pilgrims and also destroyed many Islamic monuments in the Hijaz and Iraq, while they kept their ties to their ancestors the Jews of Khaybar.

After the release of Mohamed Ali Pasha Hijaz of the Wahhabis in 1814, colonial England decided to return the ring of the Talmud to the rule of Hejaz and provided them with the latest types of weapons at the time and enabled them to occupy the Arabian Peninsula after the killing of tens of thousands of people of Hijaz. Also a gang of Talmudic Yemenites occupied three Yemeni governorates - Asir, Jizan and Najran- and gave the Mordechai family the first waiver of Palestine while also continuing destruction of Islamic monuments.... as support for the Zionist gangs that came to the rape of Palestine.

The Talmudic descendants continued killing Muslims either via US, British, French and Israeli wars, or by supporting terrorist groups that target only Muslims, or through fatwas that allows the killing of those hostile to the Jews and their associates.

The Talmudic family uses large amounts of money looted from the wealth of the Hijaz in the killing of Muslims and to finance all Western colonial wars of Zionism....The Talmudic gang were involved in the bombing of mosques and markets to ensure the Dar Al-Fatwa in the Kingdom of the Talmud paradise ....

The Talmudic family killed more than 10 million Muslims because of the Talmudic motto that everyone who kills a lot of non-Jews will enter Paradise, and 10 million dead Muslims would ensure the highest levels of Paradise.

The article goes on to say that the Shah of Iran as well as Saddam Hussein were all Talmudic agents, and it praises Hezbollah and the Iranian regime as well as the Houthis in Yemen as the only true Muslims willing to stand up against these Talmudic Jewish fake Muslim murderers.

This strongly indicates that the people that are behind this antisemitic screed are from Iran. The author's name is Shahat Shata, and he has written similar articles for Arab media in the past, so it appears that he is part of an Iranian psych-ops campaign against Saudi Arabia and other enemies of Iran.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

An ordinary story of corruption that hides a bigger story

Fadi Elsalameen is a non-resident fellow at The Foreign Policy Institute at The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

He shared something very interesting on Facebook:

You couldn't make up this stuff even if you tried. But here it goes:

Ali Jouma (the guy with Mickey Mouse) is a Palestinian intelligence officer, his wife wanted the parking spot of another person (a young man). The young man naturally refused to give it to her. She threw a fit. Cussed him, and called her husband to the rescue. The husband being an intelligence officer, found out where the young man lives, went with his body guards, beat up the young man, and even chased his mom in a car trying to run her over.

The next day, Majid Faraj, head of PA intelligence asks Ali Jouma to leave the country for few days to escape any backlash.

The whole country is now outraged.

See why PA intel have things under control? No problem is too big for them to solve.

This story was first reported by Faten Elwan a Palestinian journalist working for the US funded alhura TV station. (How about we fund anger management and then crises management classes too?) what a mess!!

This appears at first to be an ordinary story of corruption that one may find in any country. But I think that there is a bigger story here.

The journalist whom he quotes removed her story and replaced it with one that does not include any names. She also apologizes for censoring out some comments to the story, saying that her goal is to help improve the country and not to only complain about corruption. She is a very reluctant whistle-blowing journalist.

Elsalameen says that the whole country is now outraged, but I cannot find this story in the Palestinian media that I monitor, nor by searching for likely keywords in Arabic media.

If the "whole country" is outraged, it is only happening on social media and face to face. The Arab media itself doesn't want to touch the story, at least not yet. The journalist who broke the story doesn't seem to want to push it and is defensive about even bringing it up to begin with, and has been apparently frightened by something that happened after she initially named names.

Which means that this is not just a story about corruption, but also a story about how anything that makes the Palestinian Authority look bad is swept under the rug for as long as possible.

No wonder the Arab rumor mill is considered the most reliable source for information by the community. Palestinians literally cannot believe the news in their own media as being accurate or independent.

Yes, the PA is corrupt, and the people know it. But the donors and funders who keep sending over more and more cash, especially from the West, are kept in the dark about it.

The honor/shame mindset exists on a national level.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Mahmoud Abbas has said many times, including in front of the EU, "I assure you that we are not in favor turning the political conflict into a religious conflict." Other PA officials parrot that line in English to Western audiences as well.

In Arabic, things are a bit different. The entire "knife intifada" from last autumn was sparked by Abbas calling on his people to use any means to "defend Jerusalem" which was clearly heard by his people as a call to violence. PA officials explicitly have called for "jihad".

Today, the PA issued another statement in Arabic inciting Muslims to fight Jews.

The Israel Antiquities Authority started taking baby steps towards doing its job last week (many years too late) by stopping some illegal Waqf renovations on the most sacred spot on the planet. Today the IAI returned and filmed what the Waqf was apparently doing anyway.

The reaction by the Palestinian Authority was to say that the very existence of the Israel Antiquities Authority on the site is "a rabid campaign being waged by the Israeli occupation forces against the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque" and "contrary to religious laws, and moral values, and humanity."

Government spokesman Yusuf Mahmoud also said "This attack is part of the attacks, and intrusions, and desecration daily suffered by Haram al-Sharif which is one of the most sacred sanctities of Muslims" done by Israel to "plant illusions and myths around Al-Aqsa."

He said that daily visits by "herds of settlers" to the Temple Mount "shows the size of extremism and racism which dominate the mind and thinking of the Israeli government."

He concluded by saying "This assault is an attack on 1.7 billion Muslims" and he called on the whole world to "immediately intervene to deter the occupation attacks."

This is incitement. And as we have seen in the past, this incitement often directly leads to violence.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

VIDEO: Ben Ehrenreich shares his love for the Sbarro massacre mastermind’s family

This Tuesday will be the 15th anniversary of the infamous Sbarro pizza shop bombing, masterminded by Ahlam Tamimi.

The attack, on August 9, 2001, killed 15 people and injured 130. Among the dead were a pregnant woman and seven children – some counted eight, including an 18 year-old who had just finished school; the injured also included one young mother who was left in a permanent vegetative state.

For the families of the victims, this year’s 15th anniversary of the attack may well be particularly grim, because of a fawning book that has been recently released by Ben Ehrenreich, lionizing the murderous Tamimi clan.

Who would have ever imagined that an American writer would come out with a book that presents the family of Ahlam Tamimi – the Sbarro massacre mastermind – as simply wonderful people? This despite the fact that the Tamimis not only continue to justify the Sbarro attack, but are openly cheering pretty much every terror attack that has been perpetrated over the past year. And who would have ever imagined that prestigious publications like the New York Times and The Economist would praise this hagiography of the terror-supporting Jew-hating Tamimis to the high heavens? What is it about killing Jews that is so romantic that the NYT would gush about Ehrenreich’s “Love Letter to Palestine” and The Economist would fawn about all “the hope, and the love” that infuses Ehrenreich’s depiction of the Tamimis?

For a glimpse of the intense Jew-hatred and the ardent support for terror that animates Ben Ehrenreich’s protagonists, watch the video below that will introduce you to the four people Ehrenreich lists first in the Acknowledgements for his book: Bassem and Nariman Tamimi, and Bilal and Manal Tamimi.

The video was conceived, researched and written by Petra Marquardt-Bigman. Narrated and directed by Elder of Ziyon.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

The Forward has a decent summary of how the Black Lives Matter platform is anti-Israel:

What does it say about Israel?

It singles out Israel as the recipient of $3 billion in U.S. aid, calling it “a state that practices systematic discrimination and has maintained a military occupation of Palestine for decades.”

The platform seems to imply that Israel benefits from military aid to Egypt. It invokes the fact that together the two countries receive close to 75% of U.S. aid money, and claims that Egypt is “Israel’s most important regional ally.”

The platform devotes a whole paragraph to Israel, in which it criticizes Israel’s “genocide” against the Palestinians, calls it “an apartheid state with over 50 laws on the books that sanction discrimination against the Palestinian people” and claims the Jewish state arrests Palestinians as young as 4 years old.

The anti-Israel sections were written by three dedicated anti-Israel grups: Adalah, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, and the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

There is an irony here.

The Black Lives Matter movement is keyed on ending what it perceives as exploitation of blacks:

Black humanity and dignity requires Black political will and power. Despite constant exploitation and perpetual oppression, Black people have bravely and brilliantly been the driving force pushing the U.S. towards the ideals it articulates but has never achieved. ...While this platform is focused on domestic policies, we know that patriarchy, exploitative capitalism, militarism, and white supremacy know no borders. We stand in solidarity with our international family against the ravages of global capitalism and anti-Black racism, human-made climate change, war, and exploitation.

Yet the authors did not realize that they are being exploited by a group that has no interest in black lives at all, a group that only cynically uses black people for its own purposes.

The anti-Israel section of the BLM platform is filled with the usual lies (like the "fifty laws on the books" lie and charges of apartheid and genocide by Israel.) Those lies were placed there for only one reason, and it has nothing to do with the goals of Black Lives Matter - it is naked exploitation of blacks by a non-black group. Allowing the Palestinian groups to attempt to write part of the platform is a historic mistake that will hurt it.

This has been the Palestinian way of thinking for a while- infiltrate an organization and then hijack its goals to focus on hate for Israel. They did it with numerous UN agencies and other international organizations and commemorations that had been useful before they were co-opted.

The idea that the black movement was ripe for exploitation has been on the Palestinian radar for years. It is doubly cynical, because not only does it attempt to hijack the movement to become yet another vehicle to bash Israel, but it also disenfranchises the many Jews who have been in the forefront of the civil rights movement since it began.

Adding lies to the platform does not strengthen the movement, on the contrary, it weakens it considerably. What could have been the beginning of a serious discussion is now sidetracked and the Palestinian hijacking of yet another liberal social movement has begun - to the detriment of the actual people that the movement was meant to help.

One would have hoped that the BLM movement would have been more conscious of how it feels to be exploited by a group that doesn't give a damn about anyone besides themselves and who only wants to use blacks for its own purposes.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

08/07 Links: Danon: 'If they see the facts, they won't believe Palestinian lies'; Anti-Israel blacklisters complain they are unfairly being blacklisted

From Ian:

'If they see the facts, they won't believe Palestinian lies'

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon expressed great satisfaction with the visit to Israel he led in which 11 UN ambassadors representing countries from four different continents had the opportunity to observe life in Israel for themselves.
"It was a very effective visit. We managed to show them the chief challenges we're dealing with in only four days," Danon told Arutz Sheva.
Danon recounted that the ambassadors first visited the border with Gaza, where they saw the threat of the rockets and tunnels, and then went north to the border with Lebanon, in order to observe the threat posed by a rearming Hezbollah. Danon showed the ambassadors maps of the various Hezbollah bases that are located in the heart of local villages very close to the border, complete with rocket launchers.
Ambassador Danon claims that there is no doubting the effectiveness of these types of visits and tours. He says that it's not a matter of gaining victory in a knockout blow but rather gaining "points" little by little, with the fruits of these efforts becoming apparent in future diplomatic struggles. Danon said that the maps and pictures he showed the ambassadors are of great value in rebuffing baseless criticisms of Israel, and that if he could he would bring all the ambassadors in the UN for a similar visit.
When asked whether any of the visiting ambassadors hailed from countries that are consistently anti-Israel, Danon replied that most of the countries were what he would call "middle-of-the-road" regarding their Israel policy, and that the great advantage in bringing their ambassadors over for a visit is in the fact that it makes it far less likely that they will turn anti-Israel in the future, as they have seen the facts on the ground first-hand, and aren't just getting their information from pro-Palestinian propaganda.

Peace Now leader wants Israel to overthrow the Palestinian Authority

Peace Now has long functioned almost as a defense attorney for the Palestinian Authority--vigorously demanding Israeli concessions to the PA, while refraining from criticizing the PA's sponsorship of terrorism and its constant incitement against Jews and Israel.
Martin Bresler's op-ed began with the usual litany of denunciations of Israel's behavior. "The occupation is evil," he informed Jewish Week readers. "It is immoral. It is un-Jewish." Israel has become "the oppressor of another people." This "twists the souls" of Israelis, and is "making the entire body [of Israel] sick." It even "feeds anti-Semitism."
But not to worry—Mr. Bresler has a solution. He has a six-step peace plan, and here's step #1: "Israel can announce…that it recognizes that the occupation must end at some point, that it will do so as soon as the security situation permits, and until that time it will administer the West Bank for the benefit of its Palestinian inhabitants and its own safety."
Come again?
Martin Bresler, in the name of Americans for Peace Now, wants Israel to "administer the West Bank for the benefit of its Palestinian inhabitants."
Right now, of course, it is the Palestinian Authority which administers 99% of the Palestinian Arab inhabitants of Judea-Samaria (the West Bank). The PA has been doing so since 1995, when then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin withdrew Israel's forces from the areas, called A and B, where nearly all of the Palestinians reside. Only 4% (about 50,000) of the Arabs of Judea and Samaria still live in area C under Israeli administration, as do all the Jews.

Palestinians: The "Country" Where Crime Is an Official Job

"[W]hoever was imprisoned for five years or more is entitled to a job in a PA [Palestinian Authority] institution. Thus, the PA gives priority in job placement to people who were involved in terrorist activity." – Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), in testimony to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, July 6, 2016.
In 2016, not less than $300 million (between 7% and 10% of the budget) was allocated to prisoners, their families, and to "martyrs' families."
In June, an independent report commissioned by the Britain's Department for International Development concluded that by enabling the PA to pay salaries to terrorists, British aid to the PA had made anti-Israel terror "more likely." DFID dismissed the report.
Palestinian society is totally built and organized on the basis of "resistance". It is a society where jobs, fame and money go to people who are in, or who have spent years in, Israeli jails. There, legitimacy goes to people who are considered "martyrs."

I remain dismayed at what looks to be a sincere disregard for the well-being of Jewish students on the campus of San Francisco State University.

This may come as something of a surprise to SFSU President Leslie Wong because I have no doubt that he thinks of himself as just as much a friend of the Jewish community as he is with every other ethnic group at the university.

Well, sadly, he isn't.

Let's look at two very simple facts.

1) Wong praised the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) and their advisor, Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, as representing the best values of the school in April of 2015.

2) GUPS calls for violence against Jews within Israel, if not elsewhere.

What I fail to understand is how he can possibly square this circle.

In a video created during a reception to celebrate the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) initiative, and the creation of an undergraduate minor in that sub-field, Wong said:

"I want to offer my personal congratulations to the student leadership of GUPS. They have been an inspiration for me. And they have helped me when I have to tell other community groups to mind their own business. GUPS is the very purpose of this great university."

The student leadership of GUPS?

Would that include this former president of GUPS, Mr. Mohammad Hammad, and his famous blade from 2013?

In case anyone has any difficulty reading Mr. Hammad's sentiment, he claims:

"I seriously can not get over how much I love this blade. It is the sharpest thing I own and cuts through everything like butter and just holding it makes me want to stab an Israeli soldier."

The case of Mohammad Hammad, from 2013, when he posted his violently-inclined social media bit, was well-known to President Wong long before he praised GUPS leadership as a personal inspiration in 2015. This story was well-covered and we know for a fact that Wong was well aware of it.

As I wrote at the time:

Tammi Benjamin, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the ACHMA Initiative seems to be taking the lead and "Dusty" at Pro-Israel Bay Bloggers put up a website devoted entirely to SFSU and its ongoing reputation for hostilities toward the Jewish State of Israel. The Elder of Ziyon has also showed considerable interest and linked to one of my posts at the Times of Israel with the exceedingly sad title, "Canned Palestinian Children Meat."

Israellycool is covering it.

The Jewish Press is covering it.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is involved.

The Times of Israel has taken notice.

The Jewish Journal Says Hello.

Furthermore, it must be noted that when the students of GUPS stand on the quad at Malcolm X Plaza and chant "Intifada! Intifada! Long live the Intifada!" they are quite literally calling for the murder of Jewish people.

What does SFSU President Wong think that "Intifada" means?

This material is largely a rehash, of course, but the issue hangs in there - as we see from this recent piece by columnist Cinammon Stillwell, published in the Independent Journal Review entitled, "Why Is A San Francisco University Secretly Partnering With An Arab College That Promotes Jihad?"

It is precisely because so many at San Francisco State University honestly believe that Arabs have good reason to seek the murder of Jews that Wong has little problem with student cries for Intifada.

In the mean time, I would recommend that Jewish students take up a martial art, perhaps Krav Maga.

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Last month I noted that Palestinian authorities were cracking down on car-theft rings and destroying the cars that were found - and I showed that most of those cars were stolen from Israel.

Instead of returning the stolen vehicles to their rightful owners, the Palestinian Authority decided to destroy them.

There are some more details that were revealed in a Ma'an story about stolen cars in the West Bank.

The article admits that most of the cars are stolen from Israel, and it estimates that some 40,000 vehicles in the West Bank are actually stolen from Israel. The PA destroyed over 4500 cars this year alone!

However, Palestinian security officials spin the thefts as more of a public safety issue, because the cars are not inspected properly. It also improbably claims that many of the cars are sold illegally by Israelis to Palestinians.

Why doesn't the PA simply return the cars to Israel?

It turns out that the Palestinian Authority doesn't completely destroy the stolen vehicles. They make them unusable, for example by bashing in the roofs, but the cars are then auctioned to auto-repair shops for spare parts - and "the proceeds of the sale are deposited in the state treasury according to Palestinian law."

Which means that the PA is not interested in stopping the car thefts. They just want to make sure that they make a profit from the work of the thieves.

The rampant car theft helps enrich the Palestinian Authority - which is why their crackdown is not to stop the thefts but to ensure that they make money off of them.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

The Olympic-sized swimming pools in the West Bank that Reuters couldn't find (update)

Remember Mary al-Atrash, the Palestinian Olympic swimmer who told Reuters' Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh that she had no Olympic-sized pool to train in, and couldn't make it to Jerusalem "due to the conflict" to train in one there?

I showed that she lied about having no access to swimming pools in Jerusalem - she simply never applied for a permit.

But it turns out that she lied about something more fundamental. After I publicized the story, Tablet magazine showed that there are indeed 50-meter Olympic sized pools in the West Bank.

And there are quite a few.

Here is one in her own home town at the Murad Tourist Resort:

Here is a screenshot from a video about how a Bedouin woman opened up a water resort in Jericho that included an Olympic sized pool - a pool that apparently was funded by the International Olympic Committee specifically to help Palestinian swimmers!

Here's one in Qalqiya:

And an indoor pool also in Qalqiya:

And in Hawara:

For Reuters, the story of evil Israel and poor Palestine was too good to check.

Because, that is what Reuters reporters believe.

UPDATE: Some are not sure that most of the pools here are 50 meters, as opposed to 25 meters.

The Jericho pool, however, certainly seems to be the right size:

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

08/06 Links: UN Deletes Article Calling Hamas Operative “Hero”; Hey Black Lives Matter, your anti-Semitism is showing

From Ian:

Political play in Rio: 'The Lebanese refused to board a bus with Israelis'

The Rio summer Olympics premiered Saturday night with an exceptionally large Israeli delegation - the largest in history - made up of 47 athletes. Excitement was at its peak when the delegation traversed across the Rio stadium, with rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin at its head. But prior to the ceremony, an awkward incident occurred between the Israeli and Lebanese delegations.
The Israelis, upon preparing to board a joint-bus, were turned down by the Lebanese who refused to share the ride. To avoid a diplomatic feud, event organizers decided to drive each delegation independently to the stadium.
Israeli sailing coach Udi Gal described the incident in a Facebook post. "2016 Olympics...shame on you," he wrote. "The Israeli delegation was preparing to board a bus to the opening ceremony, which was to be shared with the Lebanese delegation. The Lebanese, upon comprehending that they were to share a bus with the Israelis, addressed the driver in refusal and demanded that the door to the bus be shut. Event organizers then attempted to scatter us on different buses - something that is unacceptable for security and representative reasons."
"We insisted that we board the bus designated for us - and that the Lebanese should de-board if so they wish. So the bus driver opened the door. But this time, the head of the Lebanese delegation blocked the entrance to the bus with his own body. Event organizers - attempting to prevent a diplomatic incident - then organized a separate ride for us. But the diplomatic incident already occurred - shame!"
He added: "How can it be that something like this occurs on the eve of the Olympic opening ceremony? Does this not directly oppose what the Olympics represent and stand for...I cannot begin to express my feelings, I'm in shock from the incident."

Meet Lady Jenny Tonge, a leading UK anti-Semitic inciter

Tonge said in 2004 that if she were Palestinian, she would consider becoming a suicide bomber. This fits an example of anti-Semitism from the definition – “calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.”
The IHRA definition includes among other examples of anti-Semitism, “making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective.” Tonge did so when in 2006, while still a Liberal MP, she alleged that the “pro-Israeli Lobby has grips on the Western World, its financial grips. I think they’ve got a certain grip on our party.” – as well as other similar remarks in 2012 about the power of the pro-Israel lobby in the UK and US.
Another IHRA definition example of what is anti-Semitic is, “accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.” In a letter to the Independent in 2006 Tonge blamed Israel for suicide bombings in Iraq, writing, “Israel's security wall is forcing them to export themselves to another arena to fight in this ridiculous ‘war’ against terrorism being waged by the donkeys who lead us in the West.” She has also blamed the treatment of the Palestinians by Israel as “the root cause of terrorism worldwide.” This in addition to the aforementioned accusation of Israel’s responsibility for the rise of extreme Islamism and Isis”
In 2009, at an anti-Israel rally in London during the Gaza war Tonge said that “Jewish people should be totally ashamed of themselves that they are not doing more to stop Israel.” She added that it is “absolutely disgusting.” In 2015 she has called on Jewish leaders in Britain to condemn Israel. Her statements seem to imply “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.” This is another example of anti-Semitism stated in the IHRA definition.
The IHRA definition mentions as a further example of anti-Semitism, “accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.” Tonge accuses Jews of “using the Holocaust” as she questions whether Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is allowed to continue because of “Holocaust guilt.”
The IHRA definition mentions furthermore that it is anti-Semitic to deny “the right of Jewish people to self-determination.” Tonge attended an anti-Israel event at Middlesex University in 2012 where she stated that “Beware Israel. Israel is not going to be there forever in its current performance… Israel will lose its support and then they will reap what they have sown.”

The serious terror-funding allegations against the World Vision head in Gaza

However, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a detailed statement giving both particulars of the allegations and a description of the methods used to carry out the alleged fraud. Furthermore, it sets out a series of admissions El-Halabi is alleged to have made under cross-examination.
El-Halabi is alleged to have admitted to joining Hamas in his youth, and been planted with World Vision by the terrorist group, having worked his way up the ranks until he controlled the multi-million dollar budget, equipment and aid packages.
The specific allegations against him include:
• Promoting fictitious agricultural associations as cover for transfers to Hamas;
• Transferring money to Hamas members fraudulently registered as employees of charity-sponsored projects;
• Issuing inflated invoices and fictitious receipts with the excess being transferred to Hamas;
• Issuing fictitious tenders for work to be done for World Vision, with the "winning" tenderer to transfer 60% of funds received to Hamas;
• Transferring directly to Hamas equipment and aid packages provided by World Vision;
• Initiating a greenhouse project to use the greenhouses to hide the sites of terror tunnels;
• Disguising Hamas warehouses as World Vision warehouses so Hamas could take materials delivered to them;
• Diverting money for injured children to Hamas terrorists who fraudulently listed their own children as wounded; and
• Diverting unemployment benefits to Hamas terrorists.
Obviously, these are all only allegations until proven in court.
As mentioned, World Vision proclaimed its faith in its audit processes, but this would be far from the first time frauds of this sort have escaped the notice of internal, or even external, auditors. For example, in a recent example close to home, in February this year, the Victorian State Director of the Liberal Party, Damian Mantach, pled guilty to having embezzled approximately AU$1.5 million from the party. This was achieved by invoicing the party and MPs for work that was never done, or at inflated costs.
Prior to the discovery of the fraud, a financial comptroller from KPMG had been installed in the party to investigate over spending on campaigns, but had reported that no fraud had been discovered, following which, the embezzlement continued.

08/05 Links Pt2: Why the Jewish Left Encourages Hate; Phillips: The unused weapon of mass instruction

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: Black Lives Matter’s Jewish Problem Is Also a Black Problem

On Aug. 1, the Black Lives Matter coalition (BLM) of groups and partners published a platform of objectives and demands ostensibly constructed to correct heavy-handed policing, educational negligence, and economic inadequacy in black communities.
That platform did no such thing.
Instead, organizers offered up a hodgepodge of half-baked ideas in the service of creating a new world order, one in which defunding police, releasing all political prisoners from jail, and redistributing of land are imperative.
Moreover, apparently believing that societal reforms in America’s inner cities are somehow related to the Arab-Israeli conflict, BLM included a section on Israel in its list of demands. With trite talking points, the group called for a divestment from the Jewish state as it is allegedly “complicit in the genocide against the Palestinian people.”
What this means is unpleasant to contemplate. An organization formed to confront systemic prejudice against black Americans—which predates the reestablishment of the state of Israel—is now intimating that such prejudice is caused by the Jewish state’s supposed genocidal tendencies (which, according to census reports, have led to a population increase among Palestinians).
Though I find no intrinsic value in “rebutting” crackpot conspiracy theories, it’s worth demonstrating how far removed BLM is from honoring the legacy of its ancestors by reminding readers just how pro-Zionist prominent leaders in the black community have been throughout history—and how Zionism helped shape black politics in America.

Why the Jewish Left Encourages Hate

The Jewish left has a problem. Their belief that Israel is the obstacle to peace with the Palestinians has transformed itself over the last generation from a coherent political position to an obsession that is disconnected from the reality of the conflict. Many are so frustrated with this failure that they are willing to even excuse anti-Semitic comments as long as they are directed at Jews they don’t like. That is the only way to understand Peter Beinart’s recent column in Haaretz, in which he not only sought to justify the disgusting statement of a congressman that compared West Bank settlers to “termites” and criticizing those mainstream and liberal Jewish groups that spoke out against him.
The incident stemmed from a forum held at the Democratic Convention last week by an anti-Zionist group called the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation at which Representative Hank Johnson spoke. The mere presence of a member of Congress at a forum hosted by a group that promotes the anti-Semitic creed of BDS that seeks to eliminate the Jewish state should have been enough to justify condemnation of Johnson by the entire Jewish community from left to right. But taking his cue from the vicious ideology of his hosts, Johnson went further than just endorsing the group’s positions. As the Washington Free Beacon reported, Johnson described Jews living in communities in the West Bank as “termites.” The insect analogy was, as our Daniella Greenbaum noted last week, straight out of the traditional playbook of classical anti-Semitic hate. The point was not merely to oppose the existence of settlements—a position that some Israelis hold–but to delegitimize the people that live there making them, in effect, fair game for the daily terrorist attacks to which they and other Israelis have been subjected.
The ADL and Jewish leaders like Rabbi David Wolpe responded with condemnation and Johnson eventually apologized for what he conceded was “an offensive analogy.” But Beinart is unhappy with Johnson’s critics because he thinks the “truth” about settlements should override any objections to his vile language. Beinart is convinced that settlements really are functioning like insects eating away at the fabric of Palestinian life and preventing peace. Moreover, he worries that American Jewish sensitivity to anti-Semitic language is serving to suppress condemnation of settlements and settlers. From his point of view, the only way to save Israel from itself is to unleash the kind of virulent attacks that will isolate the Jewish state and force it to withdraw from the West Bank and Jerusalem regardless of whether the Palestinians have demonstrated any desire to live in peace with them. If that means making common cause with those who want to destroy Israel and kill its Jews, so be it.

Melanie Phillips: The unused weapon of mass instruction

As a result of this summer’s jihadist terrorist attacks in France and Germany, public discussion has become yet more urgent about how to combat Islamist radicalization.
Over the years, many explanations for Islamic terrorism have been advanced to show that it has in fact nothing to do with Islam.
These have included poverty, social exclusion, Islamophobia and “grievances” over conflicts such as Bosnia, Kashmir, Iraq, Chechnya, Palestine and now Syria.
To the Western mind, these “grievances” have no common factor – even while the terrorists, along with other jihadis burning Christians alive in Africa or slaughtering civilians from London to Paris to Tunisia, scream “Allahu akhbar” as they commit atrocities in the name of Islamic holy war.
The rise of Islamic State, committed to establishing a Muslim caliphate, exposed the vacuity of such thinking. Why were tens of thousands of young Western Muslims signing up to an Islamic supremacist death cult? In scrabbling for an answer, Western politicians still determined to deny the reality of religious fanaticism were sure about one thing. Islamic State was “un-Islamic” or even “anti-Islamic.” Religion couldn’t be the cause of such depravity.
In the wake of this summer’s attacks, fresh explanations have been heard. If the terrorists appear to have acted alone (which usually turns out not to be the case) they are “lone wolves” and therefore not jihadi foot-soldiers. If they appear to have a psychiatric history, they are said to be mentally ill and therefore not jihadi foot-soldiers.

Hezbollah's Al Manar quotes Sheikh Ali Damoh who stressed in his Friday sermon that there is no justification to communicate or normalize relations or have peace with the "Zionist enemy."

Damoh said thar every Muslim Scholar, both Sunnis and Shiite, in the past and the present, have all stated the inadmissibility of peace with the Jews as long as Jews control an inch of Muslim countries. He quoted Muslim scholars from Palestine, Iraq , Al-Azhar in Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Indian Muslim scholars.

He gave examples of historic fatwas against any agreement with Jews, starting with thr first conference of Palestine Muslim scholars in 1935 down to an advisory opinion of the chairman of the Central Association of Muslim Scholars in India, an Iraqi fatwa in 1937, an Egyptian fatwa prohibiting reconciliation with the Jews and the necessity of jihad in 1956, a fatwa of the Islamic International Conference of scholars in Pakistan in 1968, and an advisory opinion of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azhar in 1979, forbidding conceding any part of Palestine, signed by more than sixty Muslim scholars.

Apparently, no one told these Muslim scholars that the "occupation" from 1967 and the settlements" are sthe only problems, and if only Israel withdraw to its 1949 armistice lines, there would be peace. Perhaps we need to send Peace Now and J-Street and the EU and the UN to explain the issues to these guys. They clearly don't understand the real issue.

It must be that they are misinterpreting Islam.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

08/05 Links Pt1: Glick: Obama's legacy; The Next Generation of Killers; Obama Will Never Give up on Iran

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Obama's legacy

Last week’s statement demonstrates that shaping the US’s future policy toward Israel is a major component of the legacy he is building. And what is the shape he is giving to that policy through his actions? By openly employing anti-Jewish policy rationales, Obama shows that the legacy he intends to pass on to his successors is a US policy toward Israel based neither on US interests nor on American values. Rather, it is predicated on unabashed anti-Jewish discrimination.
In other words, Obama’s presidential legacy is the promotion of anti-Semitism as the guiding principle shaping and informing US Israel policy.
This is, to be sure, a stunning – indeed shocking – conclusion. It points to the depth of Obama’s hostility to Jewish national and civil rights. But as his administration’s statements make clear, the conclusion that anti-Semitism is the guiding principle of his policies is unavoidable.
Those running to succeed Obama should be urged to denounce his bigotry and renounce his legacy. By the same token, the Israeli pro-Palestinian Left and the American pro-Obama Left should be urged to distance themselves from him.
As long as they refuse to do so, as long as they continue to support Obama, they make clear that for them, anti-Jewish bigotry is no big deal. As far as they are concerned, Jewish rights should only be respected when doing so advances their political goals.
This means that Obama’s supporters can no longer claim to be liberals. Now that we understand that anti-Jewish bigotry, and the rejection of Jewish civil rights, is the rationale informing Obama’s policy toward the Jewish state, it is clear that it is no longer possible to be both a liberal and an Obama supporter.
This is his legacy. And this is their choice.

The Next Generation of Killers

At UNRWA summer camps, incitement is as normal as swimming and sports. The Times of Israel found that the staff teaches young Palestinians that “Jews are the wolf” and “with God’s help and our own strength we will wage war. And with education and jihad we will return to our homes!” A young camper told the creators of the documentary Camp Jihad that “the summer camp teaches us that we have to liberate Palestine.” A little girl eagerly asserted to filmmakers that she will “not forget my promise to take back my land.” Contributing to the culture of incitement and violence, the UNRWA and its camps have, since their inception, furthered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
No one is born a terrorist; they are taught to become one. Worse than most people can imagine, the summer camps of Gaza turn children into soldiers and violence into a way of life. Play and personal growth activities are replaced with military training, and while children elsewhere in the world are learning new skills and knowledge, the children of Gaza are learning to dedicate their lives to a violent ideology and, for some, perpetuating an armed struggle.
Searching to explain the “intifada of the knives” in 2015 and 2016, The Wall Street Journal editorial board suggested that “the taste for violence emerges from a deep-seated culture of hate, nurtured by Palestinian leaders over many years in mosques, schools, newspapers, TV channels, and social media.” Summer camps reinforce this culture; even children’s play has become an opportunity to further the Palestinian terror groups’ causes. Campers are given terrorists to serve as role models, military training as a substitute for games, and a pre-packaged, violent ideology that destroys their innocence. While it is only one component of the culture of terror in Gaza, the summer camps give children both the ideology and the technical expertise to act on it. And that’s no way to spend a summer.