Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Algeria beats Egypt, and Algerians beat Egyptians

The rivalry between the Egyptian and Algerian soccer teams, which caused so much violence last week, is over for this year, as Algeria prevailed in a tiebreaker in Khartoum, 1-0:

Silence and despair loomed over Egypt Wednesday night as the national football team lost their tiebreaker against Algeria in Sudan in a bid to secure a qualification ticket to the World Cup in South Africa next summer.
Algerian defender, Antar Yahia scored the game’s only goal in the 40th minute, clinching a spot for his team after a 24-year absence from the world football stage.

And the Algerians celebrated in typical fashion:

Violence broke out in Khartoum following the World Cup qualifier between Egypt and Algeria as Algerian fans attacked a bus carrying Egyptians, according to news and television reports.
The injured mainly suffered from bruises in the face, arms and chest, with a couple suspected to have a fractured foot and thigh. Nine of them were transferred to Nasser Institute and Heliopolis and Al Safa hospitals. The remaining 11 received first aid in the airport and were immediately released, according to the news report.
Algerian fans attacked a bus carrying Egyptian journalists, actors and singers, breaking its windows and leaving some injured after the match, singer Mohamed Fouad told Orbit satellite TV show “Al-Qahera Al-Youm” over the phone.

To put this violence in a wider perspective, check out the second panel in this comic strip from that same Egyptian newspaper:

The last panel indicates another truth: as much as Arabs hate each other, they hate everyone else worse.

That is, pretty much, the definition of Arab unity.

(By the way, the Al Khan comic strip noted above is very good.)

A case study in news media incompetence

A couple of days ago, an internal Jerusalem planning committee approved, as a preliminary first step, plans to build some 900 housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

The news media altogether has blown this story way out of proportion, and world leaders have dutifully followed suit, roundly condemning Israel for "settlement construction." Reading the news stories about this would make it appear like this is the end of the world or that construction is imminent, when in fact no Israeli leader from the left or the right would ever abandon the Gilo neighborhood in any final status agreement, it is already a Jewish neighborhood, and it does not (to my knowledge) expand the boundaries of Gilo. It is a pure pressure campaign against Israel about something that does not affect the lives of any Palestinian Arab now or in the future, except as possible employees in the construction.

Fox News' Major Barrett asked President Obama about the story:

The Israelis have announced intentions to put more settlements in Gilo, I believe is the name of the city, how helpful or hurtful to the process it that and do you consider it a rebuke of your efforts to stop those settlements?

Gilo is a city? If it is a city, how can one build "settlements" inside it? The question betrays an incredible ignorance about the topic because the news media misrepresents and oversimplifies the truth, and even a senior correspondent doesn't understand the basics about the facts on the ground and what exactly happened.

President Obama answered more generally about "settlements," not Gilo, and made this response (from the original transcript:)

Well there is no doubt that I haven't been able to stop the settlements; and, there is also no doubt from my perspective that it’s in, not only the US interests but actually Israeli interests to not build settlements.

Look, the situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I’ve said repeatedly and I’ll say again, Israel’s security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure.

I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security, I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors, I think it embitters the Palestinians in a way that could end up being very dangerous, and it makes, makes it hard to re-launch any kind of serious talks about how you achieve a two state solution.

Note the highlighted phrase. Obama is saying that building over the Green Line makes Palestinian Arabs angry and could prompt them towards violence. This is accurate. Many things prompt Arabs to violence; that does not make those things inherently bad but it is admittedly a factor in making decisions and it is a major way that Arabs and Muslims historically have tried to manipulate the West to do their will, often successfully. I have called this "the diplomacy of fear" and Muslims have been doing it as a matter of course for over a century.

The danger that Obama is highlighting is not that the settlements are dangerous in and of themselves, but that Palestinian Arab reaction could be dangerous to Israel. This is, of course, a calculus that Israel should be making, not the US.

Incredibly, and incompetently, Fox News mischaracterizes Obama's statement in its own article about the interview:

Obama Calls Israeli Settlement Building in East Jerusalem 'Dangerous'

President Obama on Wednesday called it "dangerous" that Israel plans to add 900 new apartments to an existing Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem -- an area Palestinians hope to claim as their capital absent a peace agreement with Israel.

From here, the media plays the old children's game of "telephone" and compounds the mistake, as AFP reported:

Israel’s decision to press ahead with the construction of new settlements in occupied east Jerusalem could be “very dangerous,” US President Barack Obama said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.

No, the decision wasn't "very dangerous," the potential reaction is what is dangerous. Adding houses to existing Jewish neighborhoods is not the danger - the Arab reaction could be.

Just like publishing a cartoon about Mohammed isn't "dangerous" but the potential backlash by thin-skinned and insecure Muslims is.

Indonesia Muslims clerics against "2012"

From Al-Arabiya:

Hollywood's latest doomsday offering "2012" has caused a storm in Indonesia, with conservative clerics condemning it Thursday as a "provocation against Islam".

[W]hile most viewers said they had enjoyed the film's apocalyptic vision of life after December 21, 2012, when the fulfillment of a Mayan prophecy sees the Earth engulfed by catastrophe, senior clerics were deeply troubled.

The country's top Islamic body, the National Council of Ulema (MUI), is divided over whether or not to issue a fatwa or religious edict against the film. One local branch has already done so, to little apparent effect.

"The controversial things about the film are, first, in Islam doomsday should not be visualized or predicted, it's the secret of God," council chairman Amidhan told AFP.

"For the common people, the portrayal of doomsday in this film could distort their faith, that's what I'm worried about."

He also complained that the film showed mosques being destroyed but not churches, despite sequences depicting the Vatican collapsing and Rio de Janeiro's monumental Christ the Redeemer statue crumbling to pieces.

"The film shows that everything including Kaaba (Islam holiest shrine) and mosques were devastated except for churches. The film is a provocation against Islam," Amidhan said.

"The Indonesian film censorship body should have cut part of the scene on the devastation of mosques or the Kaaba because it hurts the Muslim people."

But few people who emerged from a packed matinee showing in Jakarta on Thursday shared the clerics' worries.

"It's actually a beautiful film. The MUI branch is wrong about issuing a fatwa as the movie actually has increased my faith and not the other way around," insurance broker Ian Ramelan, 49, said.

"I'm a Muslim, my faith in Allah is stronger after watching this flick," he added, urging the clerics to worry more about rampant corruption in Indonesia than about Hollywood's apocalyptic Christmas blockbuster.

Who says Jews and Arabs can't work together?

From YNet:

A rabbi from northwest Britain has been accused of financing a drug-dealing business and offering cocaine to girls in exchange for sex, the British Broadcasting Corporation reported Wednesday.
Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, of Upper Park Road, Salford, is said to have rented an apartment where he could "relax and have a party". Police raided the flat and discovered a total of 101 grams (3.6 ounces) of cocaine and more than £17,000 (about $28,567).

Chalomish, 54, admitted two counts of possessing cocaine but denied two of possession with intent to supply.

His business partner Nasir Abbas, 54, has failed to turn up for the trial and is being sought by police, the Manchester Crown Court was told by prosecutor Michael Goldwater. He faces one charge of possessing cocaine and one of possession with intent to supply.

According to the BBC, Goldwater said police found both defendants at the one-bedroom apartment during a raid on January 5. Forms showed that it was rented from the firm Premier Apartments in the name of Abbas.

"Our case is that Abbas and Chalomish were dealing in controlled drugs," he said. "They were running, we say, a commercial cocaine supply operation from an apartment-hotel in Shudehill, Manchester. Rabbi Chalomish also had a substantial store of drugs, cocaine, and cash at his home address."

Peace and harmony as a Jew and an Arab work towards a common goal!

60 years ago: When the Arabs didn't want east Jerusalem

In 1949, the UN was set to debate what was to happen with Jerusalem. The 1947 partition plan envisioned Jerusalem as an international city, but by 1949 Israel had taken the western part and Transjordan the eastern section - which includes all the holy sites, including the Al Aqsa mosque, regarded as the third holiest site in Islam.

It is therefore interesting that the Arab world (except Transjordan) wanted the UN in 1949 to push again for an internationalization for Jerusalem, as well as the other surrounding areas like Bethlehem.

From the November 20, 1949 Palestine Post (click to enlarge):

The Arab plan included provisions for exclusive and permanent UN control over the city, for expelling any residents (meaning Jews) who moved into the city after November 2, 1947, for stopping all immigration to Jerusalem and for creating a corridor between Jaffa and Jerusalem (cutting Israel in half.)

Now, Arabs had control over the Old City and surrounding areas. They controlled all the holy sites. They had expelled all Jews from the Old City and from across the Green Line.

Why would they want to give up their control of the holy places and give it to the UN?

The reason is obvious. They couldn't stand any Jews controlling any part of Jerusalem, even the western part (or Palestine itself, for that matter.) The plan would have expelled thousands of Jews from the western part of the city and would have ended Jewish sovereignty over it - the relatively new part of the city that was built by Jews to begin with.

The Arab hatred of Jews was far greater than their supposed love of Jerusalem. The chance to decrease the number of Jews in the western part of the city, and to remove Jewish rule over it, was worth more to them than Muslim sovereignty over the Al Aqsa Mosque!

Since 1967, the Arab world has made a huge propaganda effort to convince the West that they must control their holy places and how supremely important Jerusalem is to Muslims. Yet only 18 short years beforehand, they wanted to give it all away.

Arab motivation may be a bit less obvious nowadays, but it has not changed. From their perspective, it is not "occupation" - it is Jews controlling land they consider theirs by right. And just as they tried to use the Jaffa corridor and this Jerusalem plan to slowly slice away Jewish control then, so they are using excuses of "occupation" and "settlements" - issues that are given an importance far disproportionate to reality - as reasons to take control of land away from Jews today. And just as the Green Line was unimportant to them then, so is it just a temporary goal for them now.

Fantastic new Israeli invention to save lives

From Science Daily:

Despite advances in treatment regimens and the best efforts of nurses and doctors, about 70% of all people with severe burns die from related infections. But a revolutionary new wound dressing developed at Tel Aviv University could cut that number dramatically.

Prof. Meital Zilberman of TAU's Department of Biomedical Engineering has developed a new wound dressing based on fibers she engineered -- fibers that can be loaded with drugs like antibiotics to speed up the healing process, and then dissolve when they've done their job. A study published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research -- Applied Biomaterials demonstrates that, after only two days, this dressing can eradicate infection-causing bacteria.

The new dressing protects the wound until it is no longer needed, after which it melts away. "We've developed the first wound dressing that both releases antibiotic drugs and biodegrades in a controlled manner," says Prof. Zilberman. "It solves current mechanical and physical limitations in wound-dressing techniques and gives physicians a new and more effective platform for treating burns and bedsores."

(h/t Sigmund, Carl and Alfred blog)

UNRWA strike highlights its real problems

From AFP via ReliefWeb:

More than 16,000 employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) held a one-day strike in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to demand better pay, their union said.
A further 14,000 observed a two-hour stoppage in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, said Adel Eid, who leads the UNRWA's workers union.
He said the action is in protest at a reduction in services given to Palestinian refugees and management's failure to respond to employees' demands for salary rises.

UNRWA's website is silent, as it always is when it has problems like these. Even though UNRWA offices sometimes get protesters, or shut down, or other problems like Lebanese fighting decimated the Nahr el Bared camp, or when Arab governments don't pay their pledges to UNRWA, the only party to ever get publicly blamed on their website is Israel.

UNRWA on Monday criticised a workers’ union decision to stage work stoppages today, calling on staff not to deny refugees access to services.
Staff unions in the agency's five fields of operation (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank) will carry out regional strikes today, claiming that UNRWA went back on a promise to raise employees' retirement compensation benefits.

Late last month, unions threatened to carry out a series of mass protests in response to the relief agency’s decision not to improve its end-of-service compensation system.

Unionists demand that retiring employees receive severance pay equivalent to two months' salary for each year of service rather than the current amount of one month per year.

According to worker representatives, UNRWA Commissioner General Karen AbuZayd agreed last month to a proposal entailing moderate increases of retirement benefits staggered over several years, a claim the agency has repeatedly denied.

Sami Mshasha, UNRWA’s chief of public information office and spokesperson, described the planned work stoppages as “counterproductive, disruptive and sending all the wrong messages to refugees, donors and to the staff themselves”.

"UNRWA regrets the staff union's decision to suspend services in a staggered fashion to protest the alleged failure to meet a promise to improve end-of-service benefits for staff,” Mshasha said in an e-mail sent to The Jordan Times yesterday.

Staff union demands come at a period during which the agency is facing financial difficulties, struggling to meet the basic needs of refugees while burdened with a widening budget deficit, he added.

According to UNRWA official figures, the salaries of the agency’s 30,000 employees are above the average salaries of the host countries' public sector employees, he noted.

“UNRWA's comprehensive health insurance to staff, the Provident Fund and end-of-service benefits plus an annual salary increase is considered to be one of the most competitive in the region amongst public sector employers,” Mshasha said.

Because of UNRWA's ridiculously expansive definition of "refugee," it is doomed to require more and more money from donor countries forever. It has turned from a well-meaning temporary organization that was dedicated to helping real refugees find jobs and resettle in other Arab countries into a huge bureaucracy that is self-perpetuating as well as a key reason that so many Palestinian Arabs are in a stateless limbo today.

UNRWA Commisioner-General Karen Abu-Zayd's speech at a meeting with UNRWA donors yesterday shows how seriously UNRWA is now part of the problem:

UNRWA’s weak financial situation hinders our ability to discharge our responsibilities to the standards Palestine refugees deserve. We are restricted in our ability to plan and deliver quality services and efforts to improve the quality of UNRWA services are paralyzed. The circumstances of austerity generate anxiety among refugee communities and among our staff, as a result of which relationships with our staff unions are tense. Our lack of funds prevents us from responding favorably to staff’s legitimate demands for salary increases to cope with rises in the cost of living.

As I prepare to retire, UNRWA’s financial prospects are my most worrying preoccupation. I urge you to do whatever you can, individually and collectively, to help us place UNRWA’s finances on a sound, predictable footing.

As long as descendants of refugees are considered refugees themselves, UNRWA's budget will continue to balloon to accommodate the high birth rate that accompany Palestinian Arabs who don't have to pay for their own services and who are prevented from integrating as normal citizens in their host countries.

It doesn't take a statistician to understand that there is no way that millions of so-called "refugees" will ever "return" to an Arab Palestinian state. It doesn't take an economist to realize that at the rate things are going, UNRWA's budget shortfalls will only increase. It doesn't take an ethicist to realize that Arab countries are systematically discriminating against their Palestinian "guests."

The only solution is resettlement in host countries and a limit to the number of people considered refugees and eligible for services - say, third generation. If Palestinian Arab nationalism is as strong as claimed, the fact that they are citizens in other Arab countries should not impact their non-existent desire to "return."

But the idea is anathema to both UNRWA and to Arab countries, and decades of Arab opposition has become ingrained in UNRWA thinking:

Until a just and lasting solution is agreed, UNRWA will do its utmost to contribute to the well-being of Palestine refugees, and by so doing, remain a force for regional stability.

"Regional stability" is a keyword meaning that UNRWA will not allow Palestinian Arabs to upset the demographic balance in their Arab host countries,which could potentially destabilize Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. As long as these "refugees" are prevented from assimilating and integrating into the countries of their birth, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

("Just" is also a keyword for prolonging the conflict, an Arab term that the UN has adopted for years to justify keeping PalArabs in limbo, and it is very troubling that a US State Department official used that very term as well this week.)

Meanwhile, Abu-Zayd disgracefully does everything she can to blame everything on Israel, to the point of baldfaced lies:

In Gaza, the blockade remains firmly in place.... Stunted growth among children, a consequence of chronic malnutrition, is making an appearance. ...[It] is apparent that the indiscriminate effects of the blockade serve only to swell the ranks of militants and the radicalized.

As I showed yesterday, years of UN warnings of a "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza are contradicted by stunted growth in children statistics.

The trope that poverty causes radicalism has been debunked countless times - on Hamas' Al Qassam website there is a front-page tribute to the suicide bombers of Mike's Place in Tel Aviv in 2003, which was done by British Pakistanis.

Conditions in the West Bank are similarly dire. The web of physical obstacles - some 592 currently - restricts Palestinian social interaction and denies access to economic opportunities and to resources such as land and water. Settlement construction and settler violence, land confiscation, house demolitions and evictions (including in East Jerusalem) and other violations of human rights are rife.

She is saying that conditions in the West Bank are "similarly dire" to Gaza? This is so divorced from reality as to be farce, but in UNRWA's relentless pursuit for more and more funding to perpetuate the misery that they claim they are ameliorating, they need a villain - and Israel fits the bill.

Abu Zayd won't mention the names of the groups fighting in Lebanon where UNRWA-run camps turned into hotbeds of radical Islam. She won't mention the many terrorists who got their education from UNRWA schools, or even who taught in UNRWA schools. For Abu Zayd and UNRWA, the only way to survive is to adopt the most radical Arab positions on the conflict as their own and to abandon any pretense of fairness and impartiality.

Daily Goldstone 11/17

An open letter to Justice Goldstone, at CAMERA. Excerpts:

Dear Justice Goldstone,

You've frequently accused critics of presenting ad hominem arguments against you instead of dealing with the substance of the Report prepared by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict which you headed. I have several specific questions about the substance of the report arising from statements made there and from your own subsequent comments on November 5^th at Brandeis University. I hope that you will clarify these points and address my concerns.

The Mission concluded that Israel may be guilty of war crimes based on the assumption that the country's military forces and leaders deliberately targeted civilians. In order to reach this conclusion, the Mission ignored or discounted available evidence that contradicted that assumption while ignoring the weaknesses in testimony and evidence that imputed to Israel the motive of targeting civilians. This gives rise to the following questions.

1) Questions regarding the al Bader flour mill and denying sustenance to civilians

At the debate, you mentioned the damage to a flour mill in Gaza (the al Bader flour mill) as one of the incidents that convinced you that civilians were intentionally targeted. The Report is more specific, stating that the mill was attacked "for the purposes of denying sustenance to the civilian population" – which it charges may constitute "a war crime."

A) How can you reconcile this imputed motive with Israel's act of transferring 14,208 tons of flour into Gaza during the war – an average of 618 tons/day which is not only significantly more flour than the 220 metric tons the Al Bader mill could have produced in a day; but well over the 450 tons/day that the UN and the World Food Programme says Gaza needs?

Clearly if Israel's intention was to deny flour to Palestinian civilians, it would not have facilitated the import of almost triple the amount produced by the mill that was damaged.

B) And more broadly, how can you reconcile the imputed motive of purposefully denying sustenance to the civilian population with Israel's implementation of a daily humanitarian recess during the war in order to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian supplies?

C) Why did the mission fail to investigate or mention the fact that Hamas repeatedly seized shipments of humanitarian goods that were sent into Gaza from Israel and interfered with their distribution to the point where UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon issued a demand to Hamas to release the goods? Why did the Mission avoid charging Hamas with "denying sustenance to the cvilian population"? (See, for example, "Hamas raids aid trucks, sells supplies" and "Statement by UN Secretary-General Demanding Immediate Release of Humanitarian Goods Seized by Hamas" )

The Report states (in Paragraph 933) that "the aim of the strike, if not military, could only have been "to destroy the local capacity to produce flour." But given that this local capacity is dependent, in any case, on the importation of wheat, it would have been unnecessary for Israel to carry out a military air strike for that purpose. Had Israel's intention been to deny Gazans the "local capacity to produce flour," it could have permanently suspended the transfer of grain – something which it did not do. On the contrary, it facilitated the transfer of both grain and flour into Gaza.

D) Given the above and given the Report's observation (in Paragraph 929) that "the building was one of the tallest in the area and would have offered extensive views...", wouldn't it be more logical to conclude that the strike was against enemy fire and/or surveillance? Why did the Mission dismiss the possibility that the air strike was against a source of Hamas fire and/or surveillance?

If the Mission dismissed this real possibility solely on the basis of the mill owner's testimony, shouldn't they have taken into consideration the real possibility that the witness might have tried to cover up for Hamas operatives fearing retribution lest he incriminate them in his testimony?

Much of the letter refers to the more comprehensive, and recently updated, CAMERA critique of the Goldstone report.

Sigd

Most Jews do not celebrate any holidays in the month of Cheshvan that is ending today. In fact, it is the only month that has no special days of any sort in classic rabbinic Judaism.

However, the 29th of Cheshvan is a holiday for Ethiopian Jews,called Sigd. And for Ethiopian Jews in Israel, is is taking on a new, Zionist character:

The 29th of Cheshvan is not a particularly noteworthy day for most Jews in the world. But for Jews from Ethiopia, this date has long been observed as one of their main holidays, known as Sigd--a day celebrating their connection to Jerusalem and commitment to Jewish unity—the ultimate Zionist holiday.
In 2008, the Knesset finally recognized Sigd as a national holiday, and this year many more journalists and non-Ethiopian Israelis could be seen enjoying the festivities in Jerusalem.

For the 120,000 who emigrated from Ethiopia during past decades, the 29^th of Cheshvan is a combination fast day, day of thanksgiving and gathering of the clan.

Dozens of kessim (Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders) make their way to the Western Wall to celebrate the day that expresses their yearning for Zion and their gratitude for the Torah. The slender figures cut an elegant path through the plaza in front of the wall. Swathed in simple white robes, tallitot draped over their narrow shoulders the kessim are accompanied by an entourage that includes an escort holding a colorful umbrella over each of their heads.

The Ethiopian women arrive separately, clothed in their distinctive white dresses adorned with colorful hand embroidered trim. Shoulders cloaked in white shawls, heads covered with colorful head scarves, the women advance shyly toward the kotel to take part in the prayer service marking Sigd here in the holy city.

Prior to their mass aliya, generations of Ethiopian Jews yearned for Zion and expressed their longing in the annual Sigd festival. Jews would walk for days to arrive at a mountaintop where thousands would join in prayer and listen to Torah readings.

Following the afternoon prayers and the blowing of the shofar, the community would descend from the mountain to partake of a festive meal. The holiday has its origins in the time of the prophet Nehemiah, when the entire Jewish community assembled in Jerusalem for a day of fasting and confession. The day also commemorates the covenant between God and the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai.

For many young Ethiopian Jews now living in Israel, the mountain top Sigd exists only as a story recounted by their parents. Children were not included in the observances in Ethiopia because of the three-day trek to get there and to preserve the solemnity of the day.

Today, Sigd is celebrated at the kotel and then at a mass gathering at the Haas/Sherover Promenade in Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood. From the promenade there's a clear view of the Temple Mount, and thousands of Ethiopians of all ages come together to commemorate their unique holiday. Mingling with the colorful costumes and umbrellas of the elders, are the khaki, green and white uniforms of dozens of young Ethiopian men and women serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Younger teens, largely ignoring the hours of religious chanting of the elders, are socializing and decked out in a variety of trendy clothing on this festive day with overcast skies. Ancient Geez chants make themselves heard over the gaggle of street Hebrew as the day progresses.

Rabbi David Yosef, a kes of the Ethiopian community, a diminutive man with a silver beard who wears a knitted kippa, tells visitors on the Tayelet about his extraordinary life story and explains where Sigd fits into the life of Ethiopian Jews.

Rav Yosef graphically describes how men and women would separately observe the ritual of ascending the mountain for the great Sigd gathering. He points out that the tradition of Sigd was handed down by oral tradition. "Many Jews believe that we didn't know from the oral tradition," he says. Rav Yosef carefully explains the Ethiopian Jewish engagement and wedding ceremonies and asserts that their practice conforms to the Mishnaic description in Tractate Kiddushin (part of the Oral Law) of what constitutes proper Jewish betrothal.

He finishes his story by noting that Sigd was essentially a way of remembering Jerusalem and strengthening Jews in a difficult galut (Diaspora) situation. But the holiday is just as relevant today. "We missed Jerusalem for thousands of years," Rav Yosef notes. "Today, in Jerusalem, we celebrate...but just as we say ‘Next year in Jerusalem' at the Passover seder, so too at Sigd we pray for a rebuilt Jerusalem."

Just behind him, two young men preside over a table full of information about the rebuilding of the Temple and a large picture of a dozen kessim standing in front of a reconstructed Temple.

Very cool!

Tragic Gaza doctor preaches peace

From The Toronto Star:

In January, during the final hours of Israel's three-week war in Gaza, a pair of Israeli tank shells blasted through a bedroom on the third floor of the Abuelaish home in Jebaliya, north of Gaza City.
Never fully explained, the strike ended the lives of three of Abuelaish's daughters – Bisan, 20, Mayar, 15, and Aya, 13. The shells also killed their cousin, Nour, 14, and badly injured another sister, Shatha, then 16, as well as another cousin, Ghaida, 13.
...
Distraught and desperate, Abuelaish contacted Israeli TV journalist Shlomi Eldar on his cellphone, and his frenzied pleas for help were broadcast live across Israel on Channel 10 and soon circled the globe via YouTube and other video websites.
In the eyes of much of the world, this carnage, combined with a father's very public anguish, promptly became the central symbols of the three-week Israeli invasion of Gaza, which killed some 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.
Eldar was able to arrange clearance into Israel for the doctor and the wounded.
After a frantic journey out of Gaza, the party found themselves at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, where the injured girls received medical treatment of the highest quality and where the paradoxes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, never scarce, seemed only to multiply.
Here, after all, were two innocent Palestinian victims of Israeli firepower undergoing treatment for their wounds in one of Israel's finest hospitals, while Abuelaish preached a fervent message of peace – a message he continues to communicate.
He stubbornly refuses to submit to the anger he surely must feel.
"This anger is not leading anywhere. I don't want any bad feeling to control me and dominate."
Instead, taking advantage of the notoriety that has inevitably come his way, Abuelaish continues to promote peace to Jews, Arabs and anyone who will listen – as many seem eager to do.
Public-speaking engagements crop up several times a week, and he is under contract with Random House of Canada to write a book about his experiences and the Middle Eastern conflict, which has shaped so much of his life.
Before the deaths of his daughters 10 months ago, Abuelaish had received an offer of a teaching and research post at the University of Toronto, and it was while he hunkered down in Gaza during the war that he decided to accept.
The family landed in Toronto on July 22, a day after leaving Gaza.
Now his business cards identify Abuelaish as the Michael and Amira Dan Professor in Global Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
His contract is good for an initial period of five years and comes with a house, an office, a research assistant and a Chevrolet minivan.
Abuelaish says he intends to lecture graduate students on the intertwined themes of peace and health.
"I am against any violence, from both sides," he says. "I am against violent action, against rockets. I fully believe this is futile."
With a hard-line, security-conscious government in Israel, and with Palestinian leadership split between the inflexible militants of Hamas and a demoralized Fatah, many observers consider the prospects for peace in the Middle East to be near their lowest ebb ever. But Abuelaish is not among them.
"I am optimistic. We must take action to bridge the broken trust."

Notice that his new job is funded by a noted Jewish philanthropist who also has close ties to Haifa University.

(h/t ehwhy via email)

About objectivity

A commenter said:

"when have you ever seen a blog here critical of israel" - Never. There was no such a thing and that is the problem with Elder and his objectivity/credibility. Why should someone believe him (considering that he's always pro-israel and will never criticize her) and not those NGOs or mr Goldstone?

I freely admit I am not objective. This is a blog, not a newspaper, and part of my objective is to highlight stories that interest me that would not be seen by people who read the mainstream media or who only casually follow Middle East events. My biases influence my choices of what to post.

Interestingly, newspapers with multi-million dollar budgets also pick and choose which articles to publish, which articles to place on Page 1, and which to bury. They choose which photos to run and which to ignore. They choose how to word the captions and how to write the headlines. These choices are not made objectively, either.

Here's an experiment: In a speech yesterday, Ban Ki Moon yesterday gave a figure for the number of children who die of starvation every day. It is an astonishingly high number. See if that number is in your newspaper today.

It won't be.

Does that mean that this is not newsworthy?

Many NGOs as well are not objective, as I and others have shown rather conclusively. To be fair, Amnesty and HRW are probably more objective than most news media in the sense that they at least cover issues that would get no play at all in the MSM, but they are also biased and have an agenda.

So, we have established that I am not objective. In fact, we have established that no one is objective. In my opinion, it is far worse to pretend to be objective than to be blatantly and openly biased.

However, to say that my information is not credible because I have admitted biases is a much bigger claim, and one I would ask my commenter to back up. I think that in some ways my standards for reporting information accurately is higher than many news outlets and much higher than many editorial pages. I do not have the luxury of an editor or a fact checker before publication, and I am proud of my accuracy and output, given the limited amount of time I have.

I have tackled these topics in the past, see here about news media bias and a more recent post about NGO bias here.

PalArab kids in better shape than other Arabs

From the UN's IRIN news agency:

An estimated 200 million children aged under five in the developing world suffer from stunted growth due to maternal and childhood undernutrition, according to a new UNICEF report.

“Stunting is associated with developmental problems and is often impossible to correct. A child who is stunted is likely to experience a lifetime of poor health and underachievement,” a UNICEF statement on 11 November said.

In the Middle East, the Occupied Palestinian Territories have a stunting prevalence of 10 percent, a surprisingly better result than other, far wealthier neighbours, which have the following scores:

Lebanon - 11
Jordan - 12
Oman - 13
UAE - 17
Saudi Arabia - 20
Kuwait - 24
Iraq - 26
Syria - 28
Egypt - 29
Yemen – 58

Looking at other Arab countries:

Algeria - 15
Morocco - 36
Qatar - 10
Bahrain - 12
Libya - 17
Tunisia - 6

Palestinian Arab kids have the second lowest rate of stunting in the Arab world, tied with Qatar behind Tunisia.

Since stunting is associated with malnutrition, and since we have been told incessantly that Palestinian Arab children (especially Gazans) are "starving," it appears that the people who push the "starving" agenda are liars.

And that looming "humanitarian crisis" somehow remains "looming" for over 15 years.

Guess who is building a wall now?

From AKNews (h/t sshender):

A senior Kurdish official confirms Iran’s start on the building of a wall separating the Islamic Republic with Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, meant to prevent separatists from crossing the mountainous border.

According to the official, the Iranians already started with building the wall. “The Iranian government has already built more than 5 km of the wall, near the Iraqi-Kurdish border town of Haji Omaran, in Erbil Province,” reveals Brigadier General Jabbar Yawar, the Spokesman for the Kurdistan Guards (Peshmarga) Command, to Kurdistan News Agency (AKnews).

Earlier this week, the Arabic Al-Arabiya website reported that Iran is planning to build a wall on its lands alongside the Kurdish Region of Iraq, extending 506 km.

Iran has been concentrating on building a concrete wall on its border with Iraqi Kurdistan for a long time. The wall is aimed at controlling its borders, as well as preventing the infiltration and cross-border attacks from the The Party of Free Life of Iranian Kurdistan (PEJAK) fighters into the country.

Apartheid! Walls are against peace! Artificial separation!

And it is not even a fence, but a real wall. Just like Berlin!

Another human rights organization attacked in Gaza

Over the past month, Hamas briefly shut down a human rights organization in Gaza, shut down a meeting on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists, attacked a news agency, stole construction materials, prevented kids from getting medical treatment, stopped a soccer player from leaving Gaza, attacked a charity organization (and a wedding,) and took over the Gaza Dental Association.

In general, Hamas has been very confident that it could throw its weight around in the wake of being let off pretty much scot-free in the Goldstone Report.

Well, we can probably add this incident to the list. While Hamas didn't take credit for this raid, they are the most obvious perpetrators - since they are the ones who stand to lose the most by independent human rights groups operating freely in Gaza.

On Sunday morning, 15 November 2009, offices of the al-Dameer Association for Human Rights were burgled by unknown persons who stole computers, and electronic files. According to a statement issued by al-Dameer on Sunday, its offices were raided and some of its contents were seized in a manner that raises doubts as to the nature and motivation of the offence, it is not believed that this was a straightforward case of burglary. Al-Dameer staff members, according to the official statement, were surprised that one of the doors into the office was opened. When they started to check their offices and computers they discovered that the offices were searched and documents were checked. They also found that computers had been operated and navigated, the memory of a digital camera documenting al-Dameer's activities was cleaned, and two out of 10 computers were taken.

First Israeli and first Orthodox Jewish boxing champion

From Ha'aretz:

Yuri Foreman late Saturday night became the first Israeli to claim a professional boxing crown when he defeated Daniel Santos of Puerto Rico to take the WBA junior middleweight (under-70 kilogram) title on points.

Foreman, a Belarus-born Israeli who has lived in Brooklyn for 10 years and is studying to be an Orthodox rabbi, won the 12-round bout by unanimous decision - 116-110, 117-109 and 117-10.

Foreman told his father how he prayed and said Psalms until he had his rival on the ropes, losing his balance. "I saw him wobbling," he said. "I knew another blow or two and I would send him to the floor and win with a knockout, but then the bell sounded, ending the round and saving him."

Foreman is a rare combination of power and smarts. He comes from a poor family that immigrated to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His father works in Haifa as a mechanic, but Yuri moved to New York nearly a decade ago. A few years later, he began studying in a Brooklyn yeshiva to become an ordained Orthodox rabbi.

He has a very strict schedule, studying Torah in the morning and doing intense physical training both inside and out of the ring in the afternoon. He does a lot of weight lifting, running and fitness training.

The transplanted Brooklynite took a 27-0 record into the title fight, while Santos boasted a record of 32 wins - 23 by knockout, three losses and one draw. Going into the fight, Santos was considered a boxer with vision, power and great stamina.

"It's a fact we had 12 tough rounds, but thank God every time I got back into the ring for more I said prayers in my heart, and it worked," he said after the fight. "If you ask me what my strength is, I'll tell you it's in my brain. I run around the ring and keep thinking. I think I need to prove to everyone, not just myself, to the whole world that Jews know how to fight, that Jews know how to give a good fight and not surrender. I said it right after the fight, when they pushed the microphones at me and the cameras clicked. I said I wanted to prove that Jews are not a weak people that can be made to bend down and surrender, that Jews know how to fight and win. Actually, there are a lot of Jewish champions in the history of sports."