Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, January 12, 2007

Small update

Last night when I was writing this post I wanted to link it to an old post of mine about synagogue desecration by Arabs in the 1930s and 1940s. But my old post used images from an image hosting service that seems to have deleted the images.

So, I just reproduced the post again with the images, and it is worth reading it every time Arabs complain about how others disrespect their holy sites:

If I ever get time I'll go through my old Palestine Postings articles and update all of them that may have been affected by the image host problem.

PalArab violence below the radar

Just because relatively few people were killed this week doesn't mean that people in Gaza are getting along any better.

Here are some of the day's headlines:

The Alkavarnh family in Gaza gave out a press release (autotranslated):
The family said in a statement : that on 1-9-2007 on Tuesday, when the brother Raed Mahmoud Alkavarnh and his return to his home, as members of the executive force stationed in the abandoned mosque of Amr Bin Abdul Aziz in the town, shooting directly at his car and fought.

Her family, said that had nothing to do with any organization from near or far, but it is the family Alkavarnh, each claim the honor of the executive to desist from such acts, which do not serve the interests of only the enemy, indicating that those who opened fire are known to have a name, and the testimony of executive power themselves and the people living near the scene of the crime.

The family : "we are not advocates of civil war, and that any prejudice to any person of the family is an attack on the family, and we will respond in an iron hand, and in a manner that would have grave consequences, and that those who attempted to assassinate our son are known to us, and we will deal with them as individuals, strong, and will be a lesson for others, God.

"Whoever will not forgive us, no matter how long it takes Sanhasph Umm Qasr"

A bomb in Bethlehem and gunshots against an Arab police chief and some stores.
A PalArab news agency was attacked again (and threatened with more)
Hamas news reported some Fatah infighting, with one death. Fatah denied it.
This is all besides the shooting at the imam earlier.

A lesson in comparative reporting

First read this article from Guardian and Electronic Intifada writer Jonathan Cook, who we last saw praising Hamas. In this example, Cook looks at the Christian exodus from Palestinian areas and squarely blames Israel. Here is an excerpt, but for this exercise, read the whole tedious thing:

This intimate involvement of Palestinian Christians in the Palestinian national struggle is one of the reasons why Israel has been so keen to find ways to encourage their departure -- and then blame it on intimidation by, and violence from, Muslims.
In truth, however, the fall in the number of Christians can be explained by two factors, neither of which is related to a clash of civilisations. The first is a lower rate of growth among the Christian population. According to the latest figures from Israel's Bureau of Census Statistics, the average Christian household in Israel contains 3.5 people compared to 5.2 in a Muslim household. Looked at another way, in 2005 33 percent of Christians were under the age of 19, compared to 55 percent of Muslims. In other words, the proportion of Christians in the Holy Land has been eroded over time by higher Muslim birth rates. But a second factor is equally, if not more, important. Israel has established an oppressive rule for Palestinians both inside Israel and in the occupied territories that has been designed to encourage the most privileged Palestinians, which has meant disproportionately Christians, to leave.

This policy has been implemented with stealth for decades, but has been greatly accelerated in recent years with the erection of the wall and numerous checkpoints. The purpose has been to encourage the Palestinian elite and middle class to seek a better life in the West, turning their back on the Holy Land.

Palestinian Christians have had the means to escape for two reasons. First, they have traditionally enjoyed a higher standard of living, as city-based shopkeepers and business owners, rather than poor subsistence farmers in the countryside. And second, their connection to the global Churches has made it simpler for them to find sanctuary abroad, often beginning as trips for their children to study overseas.

Now, read this article from Der Spiegel, which talks about the exodus of Christians from the Arab world as a whole. Here's part:

Given the lack of hard numbers, demographers must rely on estimates, whereby Christians make up about 40 percent of the population in Lebanon, less than 10 percent in Egypt and Syria, two to four percent in Jordan and Iraq and less than one percent in North Africa. But the major political changes that are currently affecting the Middle East have led to shrinking Christian minorities. In East Jerusalem, where half of the population was Christian until 1948, the year of the first Arab-Israeli war, less than five percent of residents are Christian today. In neighboring Jordan, the number of Christians was reduced by half between the 1967 Six Day War and the 1990s. There were only 500,000 Christians still living in Iraq until recently, compared to 750,000 after the 1991 Gulf War. Wassim, one of the seminary students now fleeing to Kurdistan, estimates that half of those remaining Christians have emigrated since the 2003 US invasion, most of them in the last six months.

Demographics have accelerated this development. Christians, often better educated and more affluent than their Muslim neighbors, have fewer children. Because the wave of emigration has been going on for decades, many Middle Eastern Christians now have relatives in Europe, North America and Australia who help them emigrate. Their high level of education increases their chances of obtaining visas. Those who leave are primarily members of the elite: doctors, lawyers and engineers.

But there are deeper-seated reasons behind the most recent exodus: the demise of secular movements and the growing influence of political Islam in the Middle East.

As I said, it is worth reading both articles fully.

The first article is written by a British reporter who tries do hard to sound reasonable and tries so hard to defend his thesis, even though upon closer examination it can be seen that he fills the article with irrelevant anecdotes and no evidence whatsoever beyond his own fevered fitting of facts to his preconceived conclusions.

And the second article looks at the same information and shows that the problem is throughout the Middle East, not just the PalArab territories as Cook would like to have you believe, and it is clearly the result of Arab and Muslim policies, not Zionist ones.

Even a few seconds of thought show that Cook's thesis is absurd. Israel is specifically targeting Christians to emigrate from the territories so that the only people left would be the Muslims who applaud blowing up Jews? Despite his example of George Habash who nobody has heard from in decades, today's terror groups are exclusively Islamist. To even imagine that Israel prefers Palestinian Muslims to Palestinian Christians (even with the PalArab Christians' complete dhimmitude) is nothing but the result of an Israel-hating fantasy.

Cook has an agenda and his duplicitous "reporting" betrays that fact in more ways than you can count. And even as he belittles other news articles for blaming Palestinian Arabs for driving the Christians out of the Holy Land, he shows none of the intellectual rigor nor ability to draw conclusions from facts that one would expect from a reporter.

Despicable attacks on mosques and Muslim clerics

This is a headline you will never see.

Last Friday, Hamas attacked and killed a prominent Gaza imam after his sermon. Today they also attacked a mosque and its worshippers after services.

For some reason, the UN has been silent in these brazen attacks on religious institutions. Interestingly, attacks on mosques that are not known to be used in a military capacity, even when not in an international conflict, are considered "grave breaches" of international law according to the Geneva Conventions:

Acts of hostility towards places of worship in international conflicts are prohibited. Places of worship may not be used in support of the military effort, and they cannot be the objects of reprisals. (Protocol I, Art. 53)

These prohibitions also apply in non-international conflicts. (Protocol II, Art. 16)

If there is any doubt as to whether a place of worship is being used to help the military action, then it will be presumed not to be so used. (Protocol I, Art. 52, Sec. 3)

Attacks against places of worship are grave breaches against the Geneva Convention. (Protocol I, Art. 85, Sec. 4)

Evidently, international law is only important when certain people are perceived to have violated it, and not others.

News roundup

Too much news!

The US is thankfully starting to go after the Iranians stirring up trouble in Iraq. Iran is scaring the Arab world, which is fully expecting to eventually go to war, with Egypt's Mubarak explicitly condemning Iran. And Syria's role vis a vis Iran and fundamentalism may not be so clear-cut.

Israel is worrying about Egypt as well - a nation only one bullet away from becoming an Islamist military powerhouse (with billions in US weapons.)

The Israeli media, but no one else, has picked up on the hypocrisy of a world that rushes to condemn Israel for mistakenly killing Arab children and its silence when Arabs do it on purpose. Similarly, it has picked up on how human shields don't quite work against Hamas. Wonder why?

New synagogue in Jerusalem freaks out PalArabs

The PalArab media is freaking out over a synagogue being built in Jerusalem's Old City "just 50 meters from the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is itself already under threat."

Of course, the PA media is claiming it is on "stolen Palestinian land." According to the PalArabs and most of the civilized world, Jews aren't allowed to do anything in Jerusalem because for 19 years in the middle of the 20th century, for the first and only time in 3000 years, it was Judenrein.

You have to understand: it is justifiable that it only took the Arabs a few days to damage and destroy virtually every synagogue in Jerusalem in 1948, but it is a major crime for Jews to want to build one today.

Abbas lays out his "red lines." What are Olmert's?

For reasons I don't quite comprehend, the Palestinian Arabs are making the 37th anniversary of Fatah's being integrated with the PLO as a very big deal (or at least Fatah is.) During the celebrations (of the "revolution"), Mahmoud Abbas stressed his demands (autotranslated):

- Our priority to preserve the national unity and preventing and prohibiting internal fighting
-Want one authority and one speaks and struggling and negotiate on behalf of the people
-We do not accept and we will not accept unilateral exclusion and groupware
- The PLO is the political and legal umbrella of the National Authority
- We will not accept state with provisional borders
- We will not accept compromise on the issue of refugees
- We will not give up one inch of Jerusalem

Leaving aside for now that he is pretty much saying "we will remain stateless for decades or centuries if necessary, making our people miserable rather than even think of compromising for peace," can anyone even imagine what Olmert's "red lines" are?

A normal Israeli leader would be able to mimic some of Abbas' demands: no compromise on Jerusalem, no compromise on "refugees", no compromise on large settlement blocs. But what would the "leaders" of Israel today say are their red lines?

Sadly, I don't think there are any. People without conviction make poor leaders.

What does the US Army have against the Trophy?

NBC News reports on a story that is troubling on a number of levels:

WASHINGTON - In September, NBC News first reported on a fierce debate within the Pentagon over an Israeli-made system that shoots rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) out of the sky. The Army seems intent on killing the system, but officials in the Office of the Secretary of Defense believe it can save American lives.

Over the last three years, U.S. commanders in Iraq have issued a series of urgent pleas for a system to counter RPGs — a favorite weapon of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation (OFT) scoured the world for a solution and thought it found one in "Trophy," which was developed over the last decade in Israel.

Trophy works by scanning all directions and automatically detecting when an RPG is launched. The system then fires an interceptor — traveling hundreds of miles a minute — that destroys the RPG safely away from the vehicle.

OFT subjected Trophy to 30 tests and found it is "more than 98 percent" effective at killing RPGs. Officials then made plans to battle-test the system on some Stryker fighting vehicles headed to Iraq this year.

But the U.S. Army blocked that testing. Why? Pentagon sources tell NBC News — and internal Army documents seem to confirm — that Army officials consider Trophy a threat to their crown jewel, the $160 billion Future Combat System (FCS). Under FCS, the Army is paying Raytheon Co. $70 million to build an RPG-defense system from scratch.

In an interview with NBC News on June 26, 2006, an Army official said Trophy simply is not ready.

"The Army is opposed to deploying a system before we assure that it's safe, effective, suitable and supportable," said Col. Donald Kotchman. "Trophy is not there yet."

In letters to Congress since our first reports, the Army says that the best proof Trophy is not ready is that the "Israeli Defense Forces have yet to integrate and field Trophy."

To check out the Army's claims, we went back to Israel. We found that the Israeli military has indeed begun to integrate and field Trophy on tanks, buying at least 100 systems.

Brig. Gen. Amir Nir leads that effort. We asked him about claims that Trophy has not been sufficiently tested and that it's not ready to be deployed.

"It's the most mature, and it can do the job," he said. "We cannot afford waiting for the next generation."

This fall, after our first reports aired, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson gave Congress a laundry list of reasons the U.S. Army opposes Trophy.

Can Trophy handle attacks from every direction?
"From the standpoint of providing 360-degree coverage, we have issues," Sorenson told the Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee on Sept. 21, 2006.

What does Nir say? Will Trophy be able to engage targets from all directions?

"Yeah, 360 degrees," he says.

Can Trophy reload automatically?
"From the standpoint of an autoloader that's not yet developed, we have issues," said Sorenson before Congress.

Sorenson suggested that in the absence of an autoloader, soldiers would have to climb out of the vehicle and manually reload the system, perhaps under hostile fire?

We went to Trophy's manufacturer, Rafael, to see if there is an autoloader.

Col. Didi Ben Yoash, a reservist in the Israeli Defense Forces who works for Rafael, showed us one.

"Absolutely, this is an autoloader," he said.

How does he respond to U.S. Army claims that Trophy doesn't have an autoloader?

"Well, this is an autoloader," he said.

Gen. Nir also confimed to NBC that "the full system provides you the ability to reload automatically."

What’s the risk to troops when Trophy intercepts an RPG?
After our first report on Sept. 5, 2006, the Army told Congress it has "serious concerns over soldier safety."

What is the Israeli army's view of how much additional risk there is to the troops?

"As far as we tested, it added at most 1 percent," says Nir. "Not a significant risk."

In fact, the Israelis argue that Trophy, while not perfect, will provide much-needed protection for troops and save lives — the same conclusion reached by Trophy's backers in the Pentagon. They argue that Trophy should be fielded as an interim solution in response to U.S. commanders requests for help against RPGs. These officials believe that the troops cannot afford to wait while the U.S. Army and Raytheon perfect a longer-term solution.

We wanted to ask the U.S. Army about all this. Sorensen first agreed to an interview, then canceled it. The Army also refused to answer 29 specific questions we submitted.

The Army did give us two statements, one saying, in part: "The U.S. Army is dedicated to ensuring our soldiers deploy with the best force protection capability" and is working on a system to counter RPGs.

When will that system, being built by Raytheon, be ready?

The Army previously told us it could get it to the troops in four years, by 2011, but now declines to say whether it still is on course to meet that deadline.

Later this week on "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," Lisa Myers will continue her reporting on the Trophy weapons system. She'll reveal new internal Army documents that suggest the Army went even further than she previously reported to block Pentagon efforts to test Trophy.

I can imagine two reasons why the Army is against deploying Trophy. One is, as suggested, they want to give the business to Raytheon.

But beyond that, I think that there is a bit of hubris in the US Army where they do not want to use weapons not developed in the US, more specifically, where they were not heavily involved in the development. People naturally tend to prefer their own products and the Army doesn't just buy weapons, but it helps design them. This gives the generals a psychological stake in the results; their egos become part of the specs.

The problem is, of course, that it is possible that this egoism is resulting in the unnecessary deaths of US soldiers. The idea of waiting five or more years for a "perfect" system when a usable system is available today is simply immoral.

Jihad Unspun: Kill the filthy Kuffar!

A refreshingly honest article at Jihad Unspun (indexed by Google News as a "news" source!) that unapologetically defends Islam's violent nature. Here are some highlights: (Hat tip to Kalen)

Setting The Record Straight: Was Islam Really Spread By The Sword?
By Abu Haithem Al-Hijazee | JUS

One of the greatest debates within the Muslim Ummah, one that causes division within the Islamic nation and that is often used by the enemies of Islam as a means of ascribing brutality to our religion is centered on the methods by which Islam was propagated throughout the globe. Was Islam spread by the sword? The quick answer to this question is a resounding yes and in this article, we hope to set the record straight using the evidence from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, the practice of the Guided Caliphs and the consensus of the righteous scholars of the Ummah, inshaAllah. While the evidences in this article are by no means exhaustive, inshaAllah they will be adequate to lay this matter to rest.

Muhammad, the messenger of Allah, was sent to all mankind and Jinn with Allah’s final and complete message constituting a system of life that leads to the ultimate spiritual, social, and economic justice, security and prosperity. In addition, Islam guarantees a blissful eternal life in the Hereafter to whoever adheres to its rules. Some will see Islam in the right light. Others will allow their whims to lead them astray. Protecting those who reject Islam through their own foolishness and who harbor the potential to corrupt others by forcing them (those who reject Islam) to embrace Islam under the gun is something for which Islam ought to be praised, not condemn. How could saving someone from Hellfire be condemned?

Evidence From The Quran

The Mandate Of Fighting, The Nature Of The Enemy And Their Intention To Eradicate Islam

Fighting was prescribed by Allah just as were fasting and praying was. Allah the Exalted says:

(Jihad (holy fighting in Allah's Cause) is ordained for you (Muslims) though you dislike it, and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.) Baqarah 216

The scope of fighting and the categories of who to fight were revealed in stages. Muslims were permitted to fight in self defense during the first stage. The scope of fighting was then expanded to include fighting the Idolaters; then the Muslims were ordered to fight the people of the book, and finally, the scope was expanded to include all the enemies of Allah (non-Muslims and Hypocrites) until Shirk is eradicated and the religion is Allah’s in its entirety.

(Fight against those who (1) believe not in Allah, (2) nor in the Last Day, (3) nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger (4) and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.) Taubah 29

The above Verse clearly:

1- Started with a verb in the command form.
2- Listed the categories of people whom we must fight.
3- Gave the reason for fighting them (people listed above).
4- Gave conditions under which fighting may be halted.

(And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and polytheism: i.e. worshipping others besides Allah) and the religion (worship) will all be for Allah Alone [in the whole of the world]. But if they cease (worshipping others besides Allah), then certainly, Allah is All-Seer of what they do.) Anfal 39

This Verse clearly indicates that each and every Muslim is commanded to fight in the cause of Allah without stopping until the religion is Allah’s in its entirety.

What a great honor to be chosen by Allah to be the ones trusted with establishing His Shariah. And what a great honor it is to be called a Muslim. According to Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Tafsir Al-Tabari, this Verse (22:78) made it clear that fighting to establish the religion of Allah is a duty of all believers and therefore they should not be afraid of the blame of the blamers. We should not be shy or apologetic concerning any aspect of our religion, including fighting and killing the filthy Kuffar everywhere we can find them? (see also Taubah 5)

Out of His great mercy and blessings, Allah did not leave us to second guess the nature and intention of His enemies (His enemies are our enemies) and did not leave us wondering whether or not His Shariah can be established and practice by peaceful means only. Allah has revealed to this Ummah the vicious nature of the Kuffar (atheists, polytheists, hypocrites, etc.) and their determination to turn Muslims back from their religion.
...
Let’s say for the sake of argument that someone says, “Fine, we accept our responsibility to establish Allah’s religion but why don’t we coexist with them (Kuffar) and through exemplary conduct, patience, and continuous preaching of the message to them, they will eventually come around and embrace Islam? In other words, why not use peaceful means to spread Islam? Well, if the above Verses were not enough to punch holes in such an argument, the following Verses should send that argument to the trash basket in a hurry:

(Should they gain the upper hand over you, they would behave to you as enemies, and stretch forth their hands and their tongues against you with evil, and they desire that you should disbelieve.) Al-Mumtahanah 2

(And when Our Clear Verses are recited to them, you will notice a denial on the faces of the disbelievers! They are nearly ready to attack with violence those who recite Our Verses to them. Say: "Shall I tell you of something worse than that? The Fire (of Hell) which Allah has promised to those who disbelieve, and worst indeed is that destination!") Al-Haj 72
...
Islam Cannot Be Compromised

Many Muslims live in western countries and they know very well that they have to compromise their religion in order for them not to run into trouble with the Kafir law. Kafir governments do not mind if you pray day and night or build a mosque at every corner or perform Hajj every year. But the minute you talk about Jihad, even Jihad al-Daf’a (defensive Jihad) you become a terrorist. They do not mind having millions of Muslims on their soil as long as they practice the western form of Islam, compromised Islam that is. Muslim women in France and Holland, and soon, in other western places, are being forced to give up their Hijab/khimar/Niqab. Muslim families living in western countries send their female children to coop (mixed) schools where boys and girls sit in the same classroom together all day. Is that Islam? The kafir systems control what you can and cannot read, write, say, teach, or do. The kafir systems will not allow anyone to practice true Islam. But Allah will not accept anything but true Islam. What a dilemma for those who cannot understand.

Hate Crimes Versus The Crime Not To Hate

If you live under kafir rules and try to practice or teach your children or others the Aqeedah of al-wala’a wal bara’a (love and hate for sake of Allah) you will be prosecuted for committing “hate crimes”. Al-wala’a wal bara’a is what Islam is all about; no Imaan is complete without it. So if you go along with the Kafir and keep your mouth shut you will end up committing the crime of not hating for sake of Allah. Which crime is easier to handle, a crime against Kafir people or a crime against Allah? Do not be fooled by anyone who tells you that it is enough to harbor in your heart hate for the kafir. This will be permitted only if you cannot migrate from where you are to a place where you can practice uncompromised Islam. Most if not all Muslims living in western countries are there because they do not want to give up the decent life they have and not because they cannot migrate.

So how else (other than physical confrontation) will Muslims be able to learn, practice, and preach the true and only accepted form of Islam, let alone spreading it outside of their communities?

Establishing Allah’s religion on the entire earth is big responsibility that requires enormous sacrifice, preparation, energy, money, etc. Therefore, Allah made it (accepting that responsibility) an integral part of embracing Islam. By embracing Islam, we are signing a business transaction with Allah. The details of this business transaction are spelled out in Taubah 111:

(Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties; for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah's Cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth which is binding on Him in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel) and the Qur'an. And who is truer to his covenant than Allah? Then rejoice in the bargain which you have concluded. That is the supreme success) Taubah 111

The Verse above is very serious indeed. It states the relationship between Allah and the Believers. The Verse started with a verb in the past tense form. This means that the transaction has been consummated. The terms of this transaction are as follows:

Buyer: Allah

Seller: The Believers

Goods: The seller’s person, property, money, and everything he/she possesses

Price: Paradise

Payment Due Date: Upon delivery of goods

Means of Delivery: Jihad, fighting, getting killed or killing Kuffar

Allah has fulfilled his end of the bargain. Have we? Each and every one of us ought to ask himself, “Have I honored my agreement with Allah?” If the answer is no, isn’t fair to question our state of Imaan?

There's lots more in the article. If it hadn't been written by a Muslim I would have thought that anyone quoting verses like these would be a anti-Muslim fanatic who is taking them out of context.

The author writes similar articles regularly for JUS, and I have yet to find any "moderate Muslim" willing to debunk his arguments.

The serious question is - can they? Is there a way to read these verses (and I didn't list them all by any means) and interpret them in ways that disagree with al-Hijazee's thesis?

If any Muslim can point to an article that shows how al-Hijazee is wrong, I will link to it.

George Bush's commentary on the Torah

Not that George Bush, though.

This one. - a noted Biblical scholar from the 19th century.

Here's a page from his "Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Exodus;: Designed as a General Help to Biblical Reading and Instruction":

Clearly the Reverend Bush knew his stuff. He was a professor of Hebrew at New York University. He is also the fifth cousin to the more famous George W. Bush.

The Reverend is noteworthy for a couple of other reasons, though:

As documented by historian and author Michael Oren, he was an advocate for Jews moving back to Israel (a proto-Zionist).

And he wrote a biography of Mohammed, available as an e-book here.

Stop the presses! Reuters is making (up) news!

Reuters scores a stunning scoop!

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Hamas acknowledges the existence of Israel is an established fact, the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal told Reuters on Wednesday, softening the group's refusal to recognise the Jewish state.

Israel is a "reality" and "there will remain a state called Israel, this is a matter of fact," Meshaal said in an interview.

"The problem is not that there is an entity called Israel," said Meshaal. "The problem is that the Palestinian state is non-existent."

Israel and Western governments have put financial sanctions on the Hamas-led Palestinian government for refusing to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past peace accords.

Meshaal said Hamas would defy the Western conditions and refuse to consider granting formal recognition to the Jewish state until its demand for a Palestinian state was met.

Hamas wants a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and accepts the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes lost in a 1967 war and before, Meshaal said.

"As a Palestinian today I speak of a Palestinian and Arab demand for a state on 1967 borders. It is true that in reality there will be an entity or state called Israel on the rest of Palestinian land," said Meshaal.

"This is a reality but I won't deal with it in terms of recognising or admitting it," he added.

This non-story is being blared out to thousands of news outlets as I write this, as if it means anything.

News flash: Hamas' Ramattan News Agency uses the word "Israel." So does Iran's IRNA news agency. So does Saudi Arabia, Yemen and every other Arab nation that doesn't recognize Israel.

Does this mean that their positions have changed? Does this mean that they are even one bit closer to recognizing Israel's right to exist or legitimacy? Of course not.

To Hamas, Meshaal's words are similar to saying that the US acknowledges that Al Qaeda exists. That is no breakthrough and it doesn't mean anything in terms of peace.

But since al-Reuters is trumpeting its reporter-diplomacy as some sort of a big deal, the natural reaction that will come next from Reuters and its eager Western readership is that Israel will now be expected to do something concrete in response, like free some murderers or dismantle some checkpoints.

I suggest that Israel responds by acknowledging that Hamas exists as well.

Iran's Thought Police (Omedia)

Every once in a while I find a website online that makes me feel redundant.

A Hebrew online journal, Omedia, has recently launched an English edition and so far it looks stellar. It is chock-full of well-written, serious political analysis, media criticism and historical context. In other words, it does what I attempt to do but much, much better.

Here is a recent fantastic article about the extent of censorship and thought-repression in Iran:

The Iranian Thought Police
Nir Boms and Niv Lilian

“Ignorance is power” wrote George Orwell in his novel “1984”, in his description of the thought police, which kept “bad” ideas away from good people. Throughout history, “Big Brother’s principle has been effective in eliminating undesirable ideas by isolating them from those who would use them. With no alternative thought or faith– the only available thought or faith will triumph. Good Morning Iran.

The Security Council’s decision to impose sanctions on Iran reflects the consensus building up against Iran’s intentions, which are no longer taken as innocent. However whereas the West has only just begun shutting down access to Iran through fruitless economic sanctions, Teheran beat everyone to it, and recently finished closing down possible channels of communication with the “vile West”. This policy recently blocked the “New York Times” website, the video clip site, “YouTube”, and the free encyclopedia site “Wikipedia”, all following on Iranian thought police orders.

Iranian internet providers were also ordered to narrow the bandwidth to 128 kb/sec, to prevent internet telephone communication (VoIP) and prevent people from downloading files. Add to this other measures like removing satellite dishes, actively blocking broadcast frequencies, and arresting bloggers and Iranian opposition activists, a dismal picture is obtained of Iranian freedom of expression and freedom of thought.

These measures will even further limit the maneuverability of students and researchers, who have also been hounded of late, and of opposition activist in Iran whose voices recently began to be heard again. As if all this isn’t enough, Iran's head of the Communication Development Agency announced that text messaging would also be monitored from now on. Big Brother's eye is always open.

Praising Indoctrination

For the Israeli public, Iran is presently perceived as a strategic-militaristic threat closely connected with weapons of mass destruction. However, the subject of Iran's most powerful weapon, mass repression and the blocking of the free movement of ideas and thoughts is missing from Israeli discourse. The Iranian regime is not only working to repress Western-liberal thought but also to export the revolution, including through familiar groups such as Hizbollah. Iran's influence is evident in Iraq, Africa, Lebanon, and closer to us, in the Palestinian Authority.

Ever since the Islamic revolution of 1979, Iran has shone in propaganda, which it considers an important value. In the Iran-Iraq war, thousands of Iranian children were sent to the front with "keys to heaven" round their necks. They were sent to clear minefields and march before the soldiers to undermine enemy morale and show the Iranian people's determination. Those who died were declared martyrs and were guaranteed a place in the next world. 500,000 plastic keys were imported from Taiwan for this and many of them were used.

A new study by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace shows that Iranian textbooks speak of the "collective sacrifice" that will bring about the desired salvation. For example, an eighth grade textbook reads "The order of Jihad will be given by order of the prophet, the Imam, or the Muslim leader, and the Muslim army will defeat the army of the proud (the American enemy and its allies) in a holy war and pave the way for free preaching, awakening, and redemption."

There is A Partner

Despite this, the Iranian people, in contrast to its government, give the impression of being less radical and malevolent. The Iranians are mostly peace-loving though trampled by a fanatic, radical, separatist, religious government. Only last week, for example, we saw a successful student protest in Teheran, which despite strict security measures, managed to convey the message that Ahmadinejad was not wanted in an institution that respects knowledge and education.

The students, who represent the vast majority of Iranians under the age of thirty, are identified with the opposition, which is working to change the regime and make it more democratic.

The Iranian people–again, as opposed to its government–also finds ways to communicate with Israel. Daily, large numbers of Iranians respond to Israeli radio broadcasts in Persian by telephone and email. A new Jewish Agency website recorded over 55,000 hits in the first month, 50% of them from Iran (before Iranian censorship also discovered this site).

In the Iranian theater, there is a routine clash between fundamentalism and liberalism, freedom and dictatorial suppression. This is a struggle for Iranian public opinion – and not just in Iran. The propaganda war continues as does the fight for public opinion in countries of the region whose citizens could be influenced one way or another. On the one hand, it would be a dangerous threat to Israel and to the stability of neighboring regimes if Hizbollah's modus operandi were successfully copied to other borders such as Egypt or Jordan. On the other hand, there a few light ray in the form of critical new voices on television and across websites in the Arab and Muslim world.

Find A Good Listener

Precisely in these dark days, when all knowledge and thought channels are being blocked by Ahmadinejad's regime, it is all the more important to reach the Iranian public. Activities like Israeli radio broadcasts in Persian and the Jewish Agency website, which are aimed directly at the Persian people must continue.

For some reason, though, these issues were missing from Defense Minister Amir Peretz's budgetary demands. We can assume he realizes that Israeli radio broadcasts in Arabic cannot even be received in Jerusalem because of the lack of transmitters, and that the budget for printer paper and ink for the Iranian radio station's old printers ran out long ago. Which is a pity.

“Every citizen can be monitored by the police 24 hours a day and influenced by official propaganda when every other communication channel is closed. This was the first time it was possible not only to enforce complete submission to the will of the State, but also to force complete agreement on each and every matter."

This Orwellian vision of "1984" is now being practiced in Iran. We must not let the Iranian thought police win. The loud, clear voice of freedom of expression, as well as our own voice, must continue to resound even in the suburbs of Teheran.

Nir Boms is vice president of the Center for Freedom in the Middle East
Niv Lilian is deputy editor of the YNET computer and Internet channel

When Italians bombed Tel-Aviv and Haifa

In 1940 and 1941 there were a number of air-raids on Haifa and Tel-Aviv by Italian planes, killing well over a hundred civilians.

It started on July 15, 1940, when an air raid on Haifa caused little damage and few casualties. But on July 24 a much more deadly air-raid killed over 50 Arabs and Jews:

Then, in September, a residential neighborhood in Tel Aviv was targeted, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred people:

Even so, as the article states:

Life was quickly resumed, cinemas opened as usual and within an hour of the raid cafes, including one which had its plate-glass windows blown out, again had their patrons.

The Italian bombers returned the following June for a series of raids again on Tel Aviv and Haifa betwen June 10-12, 1941, but with little effect. Both the residents and the British army were better prepared, and air raid shelters minimized casualties while the anti-aircraft fire downed at least one Italian bomber:

Haifa residents styled themselves to act as stoically as the Londoners under German attack, with people returning to work after sleepless nights in shelters and cinemas and cafes losing no business:

This is only a footnote in the history of World War II but it shows the resolve and pluck of the residents of Haifa and Tel Aviv in the line of fire.

BBC Editor: Everything's Israel's fault

A great find by Stephen Pollard (hat tip: Backspin) on an internal BBC memo that is a briefing on what lies ahead in 2007 for the Israel/PalArab conflict.

Here's part of the memo with my comments:

From: Jeremy Bowen
To: Editorial Board; Newsg World-Bureaux-Eds; Newsg World Asseds; News Leadership Group; Mark Byford & PA; Simon Wilson-NEWS; Jerusalem Bureau;
Newsg World-Affairs-Unit
Sent: Fri Jan 05 15:16:16 2007
Subject: FW: Mini briefing on the Israeli and Palestinians

2007 has started as unpromisingly as 2006 ended. The outlook is bleak because of fundamental instabilities and weaknesses on both sides.

Israel's major military incursion into Ramallah on Thursday, killing four Palestinians after a botched arrest operation, was a reminder of the non stop pressures of the Israeli occupation. [On the same day, some 9 Palestinian Arabs were killed by each other, but that is not a "reminder" for anything for Bowen. -EoZ]

What is new in the last year, and will be one of the big stories in the coming twelve months, is the way that Palestinian society, which used to draw strength from resistance to the occupation, is now fragmenting. [Notice how he is glamorizing the terrorists as being the unifying hope for Palestinian Arab society. -EoZ]

The reason is the death of hope, caused by a cocktail of Israel's military activities, land expropriation and settlement building – and the financial sanctions imposed on the Hamas led government which are destroying Palestinian institutions that were anyway flawed and fragile.

The result is that internecine violence between Hamas and Fatah is getting worse. On Thursday six people were killed in clashes between them in Gaza. The death of a major figure on either side would spark something much more serious. [Bowen is saying that Palestinian Arabs are unthinking animals who cannot be held responsible for their murderous actions. When they slaughter each other, it is because of Israeli policies - they have no choice, according to Bowen. - EoZ]

...
Olmert wants to replace Peretz at the defence ministry with Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister. Barak is a retired general, former head of the Israeli army and its most decorated soldier. (Among his many exploits was disguising himself as a woman during a raid in Beirut to kill various Palestinians). The feeling in Israel is that 2007 will be a year of wars, so aside from coalition politics Olmert wants to have a warrior next to him when they make the tough decisions. The intray could include whether or not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. [What an interesting example of Barak's experience - that he killed "various Palestinians" in 1973 who happened to be members of the PLO during its heyday of airline hijackings and terrorizing the West. - EoZ]

...
The political crises in Israel - and violent political disintegration among the Palestinians - are not just internal matters. They make it impossible for the Israelis and the Palestinians to engage in a meaningful political dialogue, assuming that their protestations that they want one are true. (The one meeting that Olmert has had with Mahmoud Abbas can hardly be called a process.) [One would imagine that the fact that the elected leader of the Palestinian Authority has said hundreds of times that he wants to see Israel destroyed is possibly a contributing factor to the lack of "meaningful political dialogue," but Bowen would say that it is only because of Israel's political crises and the PalArab political problems which we've already established were Israel's fault. - EoZ]

Only strong Israeli and Palestinian leaders would be able to make the tough choices necessary to relieve the serious pressures that are building up in the holy land. To persuade their people to make the necessary concessions, they would need a strong political base, which neither Olmert nor Abbas possess.

Because they are weak - many would say lame ducks - don't expect any progress. And since an uneasy status quo cannot hold, no political progress will equal more violence. [Again, worshiping at the altar of useless negotiations when one side has made it abundantly clear that they will never accept living permanently side-by-side with the other. - EoZ]

How Arabs Think (Kuwait Times)

From Dr. Sami Alrabaa of the Kuwait Times (excerpts):

Some of us Arabs are polemic and demagogic. Either we love or hate. There is nothing in between. We are selective. We are masters of distorting facts. We pick out those ideas that suit us and deliberately ignore those that do not match our line of thinking. Differentiated thinking is unknown to us. Westerners who disapprove of the death penalty are abused by both Arabs who love Saddam Hussain and those who hate him. Ali Al-Baghli in Al-Qabas, Jan 6, rightly indicated that while Westerners disapprove of the death penalty out of the conviction that humans must not kill their fellow humans, they also condemn Saddam's appalling atrocities.

Arabs, whether they are democrats or totalitarians, wish their enemies to be smashed by all means. Our whole history has been stained by killing and murder. The four Caliphs after the death of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) were murdered. Pragmatism and compromise are alien to Arab culture. Either we love or we hate, and our enemy must be obliterated at all costs. Think of Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon. The Arab states have never been governed by the rule of law and established institutions. The constitution is not worth the papers it is written on.

...Having said all that, the Western dream toward establishing genuine democracy in Arab countries remains a dream, a project of gargantuan proportion. Paradigms of rationality do not work in the Arab world. Besides, history has shown that cultural transformations take generations if not centuries.

P.S. Soon I'm going to write an article about culture and success. Why are the Japanese, the South Koreans, and most recently, the Chinese and the Indians successful, wherever they are, but we Muslims are not?
drsami@kuwaittimes.net

In the interests of fairness I must say that the entire article is written very poorly and if it was bashing Israel I would have made merciless fun of his writing style. Nevertheless, it is a rare example of introspection in the Arab world and is welcome.