Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Earliest pictures of Jerusalem

For Yom Yerushalayim I wanted to find the earliest pictures of Jerusalem on the Internet from Jewish, Christian and Muslim sources. I didn't do an exhaustive search so if anyone can send me a link to earlier pictures I'll add modifications.

The earliest Christian picture is almost certainly the mosaic on the floor of a church in Madaba, Jordan from the 6th century CE(predating Islam altogether!) The map is of most Biblical places and the Jerusalem part is fascinating:

Many other ancient maps of Jerusalem, from the 12th through 19th centuries CE, can be found here.

Perhaps pre-dating this one is a map known as the Peutinger Map, drawn in the 12th or 13th century CE that was apparently an exact copy of a 4th century Roman road map that included Jerusalem. This is far more a map than a picture, though:

An Islamic map of the area from the 10th century is fascinating for how it represents Jerusalem (one of the upper circles):

The Arabs never regarded the Land of Israel, which they called Falastin, as a distinct geographical or political unit, and mapped it as an integral part of ash-Sham, Syria, as in the example shown here. Jerusalem is represented by one of the circles in the upper part of the map (which is directed towards the south-west and is named Bayt al-Maqdas (Hebrew: Bet haMiqdash, the Temple).

I imagine the earliest picture of Jerusalem in Jewish art would probably be in one of the famous illuminated Haggadahs from the 15th century CE on the page where it says "Next Year in Jerusalem," but the earliest I could find was this one from a this early printed Amsterdam Haggadah (1695):

One of the first photographs of Jerusalem was taken in 1844 by Jiro De Franje:

This picture is a mirror image of the way Jerusalem looks.

I cannot find any Muslim artwork of Jerusalem specifically before the 20th century. Again, if someone can point me to an earlier picture I will post it.

Hamas is seeking the ability to attack Israel using small airplanes laden with explosives to be flown September 11-style into important targets, possibly Tel Aviv skyscrapers, a leader of Hamas's so-called military wing, Abu Abdullah, told World Net Daily yesterday.

Palestinian security officials said they believe Hamas recently smuggled into Gaza three small airplanes that can carry explosives and be used to attack Israel.
They said the aircraft were purchased from Eastern European dealers and that Hamas members received flight training in Sudan, Iran, and Syria.

Sometimes it seems like a contest among terror groups as to who can be the most depraved.

UPDATE: Full story is here.

YNet scared of Hareidim in Jerusalem

An interesting article in YNet:

Most Israeli citizens are well-aware of the division between east and West Jerusalem, but there exists another border in the capital, that which runs from north to south and separates the secular part of the city (south) and the ultra-Orthodox.
Even some northern neighborhoods previously considered to be secular enclaves are becoming more and more religious.
“On Mishmar Hagvul Street, near the religious Sanhedria neighborhood, you won’t see any TV antennas on the rooftops,” ultra-Orthodox reporter Yisrael Gliss says.
The situation in neighborhoods such as Ramot Eshkol or Maalot Dafna is most indicative of the fact that north Jerusalem is becoming more and more ultra-Orthodox, so much so that the northern part of the city is attracting many religious couples, most of whom are Anglo-Saxon.

Architect David Kroyanker says “the ultra-Orthodox are settling predominantly in the north, but the problem is that the border continues to move south. At first traditional religious people arrive, then come the more modern ultra-Orthodox, but it is not long before the neighborhoods become completely ultra-Orthodox.”

Former Mayor Teddy Kollek, who understood in the early 1980s that something has to be done, initiated the construction of a sports complex in north Jerusalem to attract the secular population. The ultra-Orthodox protested against the plan, saying the cars traveling in the area would disrupt the Sabbath. Some haredim even went as far as throwing sand and stones in the tractors’ engines to interfere with the construction works.

Eventually the plan was foiled, and the city’s soccer stadium, which was named after mayor Kollek, was built in the southern Malcha neighborhood.

Each year the religious population takes control of additional Jerusalem neighborhoods and sites, such as the Schneller military base, which is set to be cleared in the coming year. According to an agreement between United Torah Judaism and Agudat Yisrael, the Gur hasidic sect will own the site, and 800 housing units will be built there for its members.

Across the street from Schneller is the Tnuva compound, which was also sold to haredi real estate entrepreneurs.

Kroyanker, who lives in Malcha, is not optimistic regarding Jerusalem’s future.

“The city’s story is one of simple demographics,” he says. “This is a natural process whereby the haredi population is growing at a rate ten times higher than the secular population.”

“There is no solution this problem,” he says.

Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, the founder and chairman of the religious ZAKA organization, says “haredim are not taking control of the city because a few rabbis planned it. They are taking control because ultra-Orthodox couples have many children – that’s just how it is.

From the hysteria in this report one would think thatYNet would prefer Arabs taking over Jerusalem rather than thse Jews who are so....Jew-y.

Luckily, I have a solution to the "problem" of a Jerusalem without TV antennas: Encourage non-Hareidi Jewish families to have lots and lots of kids as well! I guarantee, no "ultra-Orthodox" will get upset at this, and as a bonus, the "demographic problem" that is convincing Olmert to give up parts of Israel to terrorists will no longer exist!

To start, donate money to Just One Life, an organization that finds Israeli women who want to have abortions because they cannot afford to have a baby and supports them monetarily and emotionally so they can safely give birth. Over 7200 children have been born to women who have been helped by this program, and most of these are not Hareidim.

It's the least you can do to help save Jerusalem!

Aaron's story, part 6

Elie at Elie's Expositions has finally finished telling his tragic story of his son's passing, exactly one year after the shiva was over.

Read it and then hug your loved ones.

In a staged shot worthy of the worst B-movie director, Palestinian Arab women pretend to be thrilled to give what appears to be a bag of garbage and a Hebrew National salami to a Hamas "militant". The reason appears to be that they want to show their appreciation that the Palestinian Arab security forces have increased in size yet again so they feel so much safer.

Since they didn't seem enthusiastic enough, the photographer instructed them to put a "thumbs up" sign to get the message across. Unfortunately, third-from-left Fatima's thumb had been sliced off by her husband when she was late giving him dinner one night so she can only show a fist.

Ahmadenijad: Thoughts will be punished

Today's GoozNews is yet another classic rant from the seemingly syphillic Ahmadenijad:

Even the mere thought of staging an aggression violating the rights of the Iranian nation will receive a stiff response from the nation, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Wednesday.
"Enemies should know that they cannot inflict the slightest harm to Iranians from the outside and that is why they are trying to create discord among the people," said the president in his address before a huge crowd in this southern city.
Saying Iranians "are on the eve of a great breakthrough," the president said "everyone has a responsibility to contribute to Iran's development and eventual rise as an advanced and powerful Islamic state."
He urged the nation to stay vigilant, and stressed that "our people have successfully conquered the highest peak of scientific progress with their resistance and unity."
"Unity, justice and hard work" have been major factors in the Iranian nation's achievement of its goals," he added.

They cannot refine their own oil but they are hellbent on getting nuclear "energy".

Israel arrests murderer of four Americans

One would think that the American media would be slightly interested in the names of the American victims of terror whose murderer was arrested by Israel yesterday.

It is also worth mentioning that the murderer is a member of Hamas, and that he is responsible for 78 deaths in terror attacks.

Here are the names and pictures of the American victims:

Marla Bennett

Benjamin Blutstein

Janis Ruth Coulter

David Gritz
Marla Bennett (24) of San Diego, California, David Gritz (24) of Peru, Massachusetts, Benjamin Blutstein (25) of Susquehanna Township, Pennsylvania and Janis Ruth Coulter (36) from New York were murdered when a remote-controlled bomb detonated in the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria on Jerusalem's Hebrew University Mt. Scopus campus.

And here is a picture of the Hamas celebration at the news of the Hebrew University murders:

Meanwhile, the BBC just doesn't understand why Israel would consider arresting a mass murderer:

BBC correspondent Caroline Hawley in Jerusalem says it is not clear why the army moved against Hamad.
Hamas has not carried out any suicide attacks for 15 months and Israeli military operations in the past few months have focused instead on the militant Islamic Jihad group, which has been responsible for most of the recent bombs.

The clear implication is that when Israel even arrests a known terrorist, it is Israel that is escalating the conflict. The other BBC implication is that even though Hamas has been heavily involved in terror since the "truce," only suicide bombings are worth worrying about. The BBC even goes so far as to juxtapose Israel's arrest of a Hamas arch-terrorist with another meaningless Hamas pretense at flexibility towards peace, all to demonize Israel and boost Hamas.

Persian Jews 1502-1925

In the light of the recent controversy about whether Iran is considering instituting a national dress code that may or may not distinguish non-Muslims from Muslims (Amir Taheri stands by his original article); it is worth looking at how Shi'a Muslim leaders in Persia treated Jews in the time period before the Pahlavi dynasty. This time period, from the 16th through 20th centuries, may well indicate the direction that the current Shi'a Muslim Iranian leadership wants to move their nation.

From Wikipedia:

Safavid and Qajar dynasties (1502-1925)
Further deterioration in the treatment of Persian Jews occurred during the reign of the Safavids who proclaimed Shi'a Islam the state religion. Shi'ism assigns great importance to the issues of ritual purity — tahara, and non-Muslims, including Jews, are deemed to be ritually unclean — najis — so that physical contact with them would require Shi'as to undertake ritual purification before doing regular prayers. Thus, Persian rulers, and to an even larger extent, the populace, sought to limit physical contact between Muslims and Jews. Jews were not allowed to attend public baths with Muslims or even to go outside in rain or snow, ostensibly because some impurity could be washed from them upon a Muslim.^[11]

The reign of Shah Abbas I (1588–1629) was initially benign; Jews prospered throughout Persia and were even encouraged to settle in Isfahan, which was made a new capital. However, toward the end of his rule, the treatment of Jews became harsher; upon advice from a Jewish convert and Shi'a clergy, the shah forced Jews to wear a distinctive badge on clothing and headgear. In 1656, all Jews were expelled from Isfahan because of the common belief of their impurity and forced to convert to Islam. However, as it became known that the converts continued to practice Judaism in secret and because the treasury suffered from the loss of jizya collected from the Jews, in 1661 they were allowed to revert to Judaism, but were still required to wear a distinctive patch upon their clothings.^[9]

Under Sunni Muslim Nadir Shah (1736–1747), who abolished Shi'a Islam as state religion, Jews experienced a period of relative tolerance when they were allowed to settle in the Shi'ite holy city of Mashhad. Yet, the advent of a Shi'a Qajar dynasty in 1794 brought back the earlier persecutions. In the middle of the 19th century, a European traveller wrote about the life of Persian Jews: "...they are obliged to live in a separate part of town...; for they are considered as unclean creatures... Under the pretext of their being unclean, they are treated with the greatest severity and should they enter a street, inhabited by Mussulmans, they are pelted by the boys and mobs with stones and dirt... For the same reason, they are prohibited to go out when it rains; for it is said the rain would wash dirt off them, which would sully the feet of the Mussulmans... If a Jew is recognized as such in the streets, he is subjected to the greatest insults. The passers-by spit in his face, and sometimes beat him... unmercifully... If a Jew enters a shop for anything, he is forbidden to inspect the goods... Should his hand incautiously touch the goods, he must take them at any price the seller chooses to ask for them... Sometimes the Persians intrude into the dwellings of the Jews and take possession of whatever please them. Should the owner make the least opposition in defense of his property, he incurs the danger of atoning for it with his life... If... a Jew shows himself in the street during the three days of the Katel (Muharram)..., he is sure to be murdered."^[12]

Another European traveller reported a degrading ritual to which Jews were subjected for public amusement:

At every public festival-even at the royal salaam [salute], before the King’s face — the Jews are collected, and a number of them are flung into the hauz or tank, that King and mob may be amused by seeing them crawl out half-drowned and covered with mud. The same kindly ceremony is witnessed whenever a provincial governor holds high festival: there are fireworks and Jews.^[13]

In the 19th century there were many instances of forced conversions and massacres, usually inspired by the Shi'a clergy. A representative of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, a Jewish humanitarian and educational organization, wrote from Tehran in 1894: "...every time that a priest wishes to emerge from obscurity and win a reputation for piety, he preaches war against the Jews". ^[14]. In 1830, the Jews of Tabriz were massacred; the same year saw a forcible conversion of the Jews of Shiraz. In 1839, many Jews were massacred in Mashhad and survivors were forcibly converted. However, European travellers later reported that the Jews of Tabriz and Shiraz continued to practice Judaism in secret despite a fear of further persecutions. Jews of Barforush were forcibly converted in 1866; when they were allowed to revert to Judaism thanks to an intervention by the French and British ambassadors, a mob killed 18 Jews of Barforush, burning two of them alive.^[15]^[16] In 1910, the Jews of Shiraz were accused of ritual murder of a Muslim girl. Muslim dwellers of the city plundered the whole Jewish quarter, the first to start looting were the soldiers sent by the local governor to defend the Jews against the enraged mob. Twelve Jews, who tried to defend their property, were killed, and many others were injured.^[17] Representatives of the Alliance Israélite Universelle recorded other numerous instances of persecution and debasement of Persian Jews.^[18]

Driven by persecutions, thousands of Persian Jews emigrated to Palestine in the late 19th – early 20th century.^[19]

Today's delusions by Jew-haters

Uruknet seems to blame Israel for the Darfur genocide in "Zionist rain [sic] of death on Sudan"
Iran accuses Israel of holding Iranian kidnapped diplomats at Aljazeera.com
AxisGlobe says that Israel's Declaration of Independence was written by a Communist spy
A Los Angeles Times op-ed ignores Israel's consistent giving away of land since 1977 as it claims that Israel keeps on taking "Palestinian" land. (OK, he doesn't ignore it - author Sandy Tolan threw in a 14-word parenthetical comment in an 1187 word article: [In the early 1980s, Israel withdrew from the Sinai, and last year from Gaza.] )
Australia's Green Left Weekly happily reports on a Nakba rally where 50 people attended.

The best defense...

Yesterday's Qassam rocket that hit a classroom in Sderot is only the latest in a series of slow escalations that the current Israeli administration seems willing to allow. Just like the settlers have been demonized for choosing to live in dangerous areas, so too will we see the leftist Israeli leaders blame residents of Sderot for staying in rocket range of Hamastan. The hollow words of "defense" minister Amir Peretz that "The lives of the children in the schools and kindergarten should be top priority" ring false when he is not willing to do anything to solve the problem.

His big plan? Make the walls of schools thicker!

Already, the Israeli government recommends that top floors of classrooms in rocket range not be used:

Home Front Command officials explained that there is an instruction not to teach in classrooms on the top floors of schools located around the Gaza Strip, for fear a rocket will directly hit the building.

Capitulation to terror is now becoming normal in the New Israel.

Instead of actually addressing the problem, Israel is looking towards spending billions of dollars to fortify some classrooms. Those who live in houses, well, tough luck. And when Katyushas replace Qassams, I guess that is just another few tens of billions of dollars to fortify a few more miles in.

I guess in a few years every Israeli will be told to walk around outside with suits of armor, as a normal defensive move against bloodthirsty Arab terrorists. And we will be reading articles about how brave Israelis live sort of normal lives underground.

This is insanity.

It is impossible to defend Israel against rockets and other attacks at the same time that Israel is giving land to the terrorists. Not only because giving land emboldens the terrorists, but also for the simple reason that land is the only defensive buffer that can effectively forestall rocket attacks.

I am not saying that Israel should abandon defensive mechanisms. Rocket interception and some fortification of course will be needed. But it is clear that the Gaza withdrawal has not enhanced Israel's security at all; it just pushed the defense line closer to the major population centers. And it is equally clear that continued withdrawals will also not make the Palestinian Arabs any more peaceful, despite all the leftist Jimmy Carter-ish wishful thinking that pervades not only Europe but much of Israel itself.

It is time for Israel to abandon its wishy-washy policy of tough words followed up by bombing empty fields, or at best a targeted assassination here and there. I am unaware of a single fact that would indicate that Palestinian Arabs are capable of acting responsibly or even rationally in valuing the lives of their own people or wishing for true independence. Unless this changes dramatically, Israel will have to militarily re-occupy parts of Gaza sooner or later.

And when one is speaking about defense, sooner is almost always better than later, saving a lot of money and many lives.

HH LXX

This week's Haveil Havalim is hosted by Soccer Dad.

I am honored that he chose two articles of mine; Tehran Lies and Israeli Morality and Canonical list of reasons idiots give to fund Palestinian Arabs.

Check it out - because as usual, it is an excellent round-up of the JBlogosphere.

Mother of all work accidents watch

Iran continues to get regular earthquakes. Just today there were three!

1. Quake hits eastern Iran

According to the seismological base of Birjand affiliated to the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the quake occurred at 10:49 hours local time (07:19 GMT).
The quake was felt in an area measuring 59.49 degrees in longitude and 32.49 degrees in latitude, the report added.

Saturday May 20, 2006 2. Quake hits southern Iran

Iran-Firouzabad-Quake
According to the seismological base of the Geophysics Institute of Tehran University, the quake occurred at 01:29 hours local time (21:59 GMT Friday).
The quake was felt in an area measuring 52.28 degrees in longitude and 28.6 degrees in latitude, the report added.

Saturday May 20, 2006 3. Quake jolts Dehdasht in midsouthern province

An earthquake measuring 3.5 degrees in the Richter scale jolted surrounding areas of Dehdasht in midsouthern province of Kohgilouyeh & Boyer Ahmad on Saturday.

As I mentioned before, building nuclear power plants in the most earthquake-prone region of the world is not the brightest idea. But on the bright side, it may end up that Iran's genocidal desires end up being foiled by a literal act of God.

Who wants a Palestinian Arab state?

One of the assumptions that have been made since at least Oslo is that it would be a Good Thing for Palestinian Arabs have their own state. Israel has subscribed to this idea, as has the US, and of course all of Europe.

Now that the Muslim-Brotherhood affiliated Hamas is running the show in the territories, it appears that the countries that are most against a Palestinian Arab state are its Arab neighbors!

Egypt has already had problems of its own with religious extremism in the form of the Muslim Brotherhood, which started there. And since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, the Sinai has become a much more hospitable place for Al Qaeda and other sister groups that advocate a worldwide Islamic 'ummah. Not to mention Hamas shielding terrorists from Egypt.
Jordan has already acted against its local Hamas members. It has always straddled the line between Islam and the West, and it stands to lose a lot should it suddnly become neighbors with Hamas. In 1970 it showed the world how sympathetic it was to Palestinian nationalism, and the newer religious component is turning into a greater threat than the PLO was then.
Lebanon is still trying to get rid of its Hezbollah albatross, and Hezbollah is essentially the same as Hamas - and it has assisted Al Qaeda as well. Hamas would strengthen Hezbollah significantly.

So, interestingly, Israel's Arab neighbors are much less sympathetic and much more realistic about Hamastan than most of the West. While they will mumble platitudes of support for the Palestinian Arab people, they aren't actually acting as if they want to see a Palestine emerge anytime soon.

They see the lessons of Gaza, where any vacuum in the Middle East will be filled by the most radical elements who hate non-religious Arab regimes as much as they hate America.

It would behoove the West to take a second look at the desirability of the success of the Oslo experiment. Inertia is not a reason to continue to go forward towards supporting what would inevitably become the next chaotic center of international terror.

Canonical list of reasons idiots give to fund Palestinian Arabs

Humanitarian reasons: (EU)
If the reason is purely humanitarian, then why do Palestinian Arabs deserve millions of dollars more than starving kids in sub-Saharan Africa? It is not like they do not have resources to grow crops or provide medical care - and they received state-of-the-art greenhouses giftwrapped. At what point does the world say that Palestinian Arabs need to show some level of responsibility for themselves rather than being bailed out by the West?

Political influence: (Arab states)
The fear is that if we don't give money to Hamas, Iran will, thus increasing Iran's influence in the conflict. Of course, Hamas has made it clear that it wants money with no preconditions and it will not be influenced easily. And what is the difference between Arab goals for Palestine and Persian goals?

Hamas was elected democratically (loony leftists and Arabs who support Saudi Arabia):
So the people that elected murderers should have no responsibility for electing murderers?

Withholding money is "collective punishment" for the majority of peace-loving Palestinians (loony leftists and Arabs)
This one directly contradicts the one before. And since when is receiving money from the West a human right?

The PA is owed money due to prior agreements: (loony leftists and Arabs)
Since the current PA government does not recognize any prior agreements, it is a bit hypocritical to insist that other parties continue to abide by theirs. An agreement is two way; a concept that does not seem to have permeated the average Palestinian Arab mind yet.

If money isn't given to Palestinian Arabs, they will start terrorizing each other/Israel/the world: (Hamas spokesman)
This is the standard blackmail/Mafia argument. Just because it is couched in other words does not make it any less of a threat. And history shows that giving in to threats is the best way to ensure that more will be coming.

Besides the fact that they terrorize each other/Israel/the world anyway, whether they get money or not.

We will only fund hospitals [and maybe schools] (Israel and the US):
No one is saying that Arabs should starve or sicken, but shouldn't the primary responsibility for funding Palestinian Arabs come from the Fatah money squirreled away worldwide and from other Arab nations?

Guns or butter?

I'm sure that he was planning to distribute the money to hospitals and food banks. He just forgot to declare it at the border.

GAZA CITY (CNN) -- European monitors at a crossing between Gaza and Egypt caught a Hamas official Friday carrying about 900,000 euros, Palestinian officials said.

That amount is worth more than a million dollars.

The Associated Press identified the official as Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.

This is the same guy who swears up and down that Hamas is nothing like Al Qaeda, no-sir-ee-bob.

Commenting on bin Laden's message shortly afterwards, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said the group's ideology was "totally different" from that of bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

"What Osama bin Laden said is his opinion, but Hamas has its own positions which are different to the ones expressed by bin Laden," he said.

However, he said that what he called the "international siege on the Palestinian people" would inevitably lead to tensions in the Arab and Islamic world.

"It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians," Abu Zuhri said.

He added that Hamas was "very keen to have good relations with the West" but said that Western policies were inflaming tensions.

Hamas is very keen to have good relationships with people who give it money for free, with no preconditions, and who look the other way when they smuggle some in themselves.

Must-have equipment for every police force

Rocket-propelled grenades are an essential part of every police force. After all, what better way is there to combat crime? You can be sure that a shoplifter will think twice knowing that this is what he is up against when the police patrol the streets with RPGs.

A Palestinian militant of the Islamic group Hamas, carrying a RPG (Rocket propelled grenade) launcher, patrolls a street in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip Wednesday, May 17, 2006. The Palestinian interior minister declared a new Hamas-dominated police force operational on Wednesday, defying President Mahmoud Abbas in a powerful challenge that could stoke more internal bloodshed.

A Palestinian militant from the Hamas movement patrols the street of Gaza city May 17, 2006. The Palestinian interior minister declared a new Hamas-dominated police force operational on Wednesday, defying President Mahmoud Abbas in a powerful challenge that could stoke more internal bloodshed.

Palestinian militants from the Hamas movement patrol the streets of Gaza city May 17, 2006.

Palestinian militants that are part of a new security force of the Hamas-led Palestinian government patrol the street after deploying in the Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip Wednesday May 17, 2006.

Terrorist Yankee fan

I always knew the Yankees were evil...

They tie for first and the Palestinian Arabs go wild, shouting "We're Number One!"

Tehran lies and Israeli morality

An article in both MehrNews and the Tehran Times pretty much makes up facts to describe the "naqba":

TEHRAN, May 16 (MNA) -- When the sun descended behind the Al Khalil mountains on May 15, 1948, the inhabitants of the verdant village of Kafar Qasem in Palestine were once again waiting for the men to return from the fields.

Reports then began trickling in of a massacre of Palestinians carried out by members of the terrorist organizations the Hagana and the Stern Gang in a nearby village.

The family of Mahmud al-Natsha, one of the poor farmers of Kafar Qasem, was waiting for him to return, but suddenly a terrible sound descended over the entire village.

The Zionist terrorists, backed by British colonial forces, entered the village and massacred innocent women and children.

Hagana’s leader at the time was none other than Menachem Begin, who later went on to become prime minister of the Zionist regime, despite his terrorist past.

The Hagana’s terrorist attack left over 200 dead just in Kafar Qasem, all of whom were innocent women and children.

Say what? A massacre on the very day of Israel's independence? And Begin heading the Haganah?

Of course, the author, Hassan Hanizadeh, is a bald-faced liar, but he knows that his normal readership at MehrNews and Al-Jazeerah.info and far-left Western media outlets will be even more ignorant than he is.

There was a bad incident at Kafr Qassem - in 1956, not 1948. And that incident, as unfortunate as it was, underscores the differences between a fundamentally moral nation and a fundamentally immoral one:

On October 29, 1956, on the eve of the Sinai Campaign, the Israeli army ordered all Israeli Arab villages near the Jordanian border placed under a wartime curfew that was to apply from 5 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next day. Any Arab on the streets was to be shot. The order was given to Israeli Border Police units at 3:30 before most of the Arabs from the villages could be notified. Many of them were at work at the time.

At Kfar Kassem, villagers began to arrive from work to their homes after the curfew. Israeli Border Police opened fire on them. A total of 47 Israeli Arabs were killed (some sources say 51 dead). The news of the killings was censored and the general Israeli public did not learn what happened until several weeks later when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced the findings of a secret inquiry.

There are the facts. And the aftermath of that event shows the difference between Israel and Palestinian Arabs:

The event was shocking to the Israeli public who demanded, and got, a full investigation. Prime Minister Ben Gurion said the act, "struck at the holiest principles of human morality", perhaps reminded of Nazis who claimed they were "just following orders".

The extensive investigation revealed that the local commander had issued an illegal order. As a result, about two years after the event, eleven border policemen were charged with crimes and eight were convicted of murder on the grounds that it is immoral to fire on unarmed civilians and no possible military order could justify that act. Among the convicted were the unit’s commander who had instructed his soldiers to "kill anyone who violated the curfew." ...

The Israeli Supreme Court made a new ruling on the right and duty of soldiers to disobey unlawful orders. That ruling has been incorporated into Israeli martial law. On the 43rd anniversary of the incident (1999), Israeli civics teachers were instructed to lead a one-hour discussion on Kafr Kassem in their classes. Israel wants its future soldiers to understand the need to identify and disobey an illegal order in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.

So there was a crime that occurred there, and the Israeli public was stunned.

No handing out candies, no dancing, no celebrations. No annual holidays to commemorate the deaths of Arabs. They displayed deep shame rather than the deep pride that accompanies Arab murderers.

The lesson from Kafr Qassem is the exact opposite that the lying author is trying to convey. The real lesson is that while Israel is far from perfect (and indeed the murderers even got out of jail much earlier than they should have), the Israeli psyche is the polar opposite of the Arab psyche that celebrates the deaths of innocents and idolizes the murderers.

So I must thank the propagandist Hassan Hanizadeh for allowing me to learn once again how utterly immoral his society is compared to Israel's.

My letter to Reuters (Hamas "truce")

In your article on Mahmoud Abbas, you say:

Hamas is formally committed to destroying Israel, though it has observed a truce for more than a year.

This is simply a lie. There have been many documented attacks by Hamas during the so-called "truce", including rocket attacks, although they have not been all successful. In addition, it is clear that many attacks that used to be "joint efforts" of Hamas and other terror groups now still happen, just without Hamas taking credit.

For example, see this blog article that refers to US terror statistics from 2005:
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2006/04/that-hamas-truce.html

Since you claim that you quickly correct mistakes,

Reuters news operations are based on the company's Trust Principles which stipulate that the integrity, independence and freedom from bias of Reuters must be upheld at all times.
Reuters has strict policies in place to ensure adherence to these principles. We are committed to accurate and balanced reporting. Errors of fact are always promptly corrected and clearly published.

I would appreciate if you can point me to where you correct this one.

(The feedback form is buried way deep in the Reuters website. Here is the form I used.)

Mahmoud Abbas: Terrorist

It is time for the world to stop buying into the charade of "good cop, bad cop" being played by Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas. Abbas is just as bad as Hamas, and maybe more so because he hides his support for terror and genocide against Jews.

For example: Abbas is the nominal head of Fatah, which has never dissociated itself from its own Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, responsible for countless terror attacks. The most charitable interpretation of this relationship is that Abbas is a bumbling figurehead with no real power to stop his own (paid!) people from terror attacks; the worst is that he approves everything that they do. As the heir to notoriously two-faced Yasir Arafat, one tends to believe the latter explanation.

His own Al Aqsa leader was just quoted as celebrating the death of 16-tear old American Daniel Wultz:

Abu Nasser, a senior leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades in the West Bank, rejoiced in Wultz's death. Abu Nasser is part of the Brigades leadership in the Balata refugee camp suspected of plotting the attack.

"This is a gift from Allah. We wish this young dog will go directly with no transit to hell," Abu Nasser said.

Terror group Islamic Jihad commented on the idea that they might try to assassinate Abbas:

"There is no difference between us and President Mahmoud Abbas that would make anybody even think of throwing a stone on him," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

His pals at Al-Aqsa also threatened Europe and America for withholding their welfare checks:

"We won't remain idle in the face of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, the US and other countries," said a leaflet issued by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. "We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad."

At a Naqba celebration, Abbas said:

"Our first priority is to lift the economic and political siege, then to end the occupation of our land once and for all, and to establish our independent Palestinian state."

Any question as to which land he is referring to? The Fatah logo answers that nicely:

Also notice the priorities: the state is the last of his list, even though he could declare an independent state today.

Of course, we cannot forget that Abbas was one of the first Arabs to jump on the Holocaust-denial bandwagon, back in 1983:

In 1983, in an early public example of denial from an indigenous Middle Eastern source, a Palestinian named Mahmoud Abbas (also known as Abu Mazen) wrote The Other Side: The Secret Relationship between Nazism and the Zionist Movement. In the book, Abbas suggested that the six million figure was "peddled" by the Jews but that in fact "the Jewish victims may number six million or be far fewer, even fewer than one million." In 1995, reports of the book's existence reached the Western press, largely because of the public prominence that Abbas had attained as the chief PLO architect of the Oslo peace accords and cosigner of the 1993 Declaration of Principles in Washington. The California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center publicly called for Abbas to clarify his position on the Holocaust, but no clear statement was forthcoming. In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv, Abbas tried to frame the issue in terms of realpolitik. "When I wrote The Other Side...we were at war with Israel," Abbas said. "Today I would not have made such remarks...Today there is peace and what I write from now on must help advance the peace process."

In other words, my words do not necessarily reflect my reality.

Abbas is also less than forthcoming as he circles the globe trying to extort money from Western governments, money that history has shown goes towards terror - either by paying PA "policemen" who moonlight as terrorists, or by freeing up money for terror, or that is laundered through UN agencies and NGOs towards terror.

Contacts with solid information – all speaking off the record – describe the current PA fiscal crisis as political or “artificial” in nature. There are other PLO holdings – of considerable magnitude – Abbas would be able to draw upon.

So while Abbas may not brandish a gun like his predecessor, and while he may wear suits, his goals and methods are indistinguishable from Arafat, the godfather of modern terror. And an Abbas-led PA is no more peaceful in its goals than Hamas. Anyone who tries to prop up Abbas is acting according to the terror playbook, and a West panicked by Hamas needs to remember that the alternative is no more peaceful and considerably less honest.