Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Pharaoh of Pop

Does this 3000 year old Egyptian bust look familiar? (Especially the missing nose...)

Al Arabiya has the story, as does the Chicago Sun-Times.

Is this what "multi-faith" means?

From "Ice News" of Iceland:

With the rapid approach of the holy month of Ramadan, a prayer room has opened for Muslims at the University of Iceland. A student in the Finnish language department at the university made a formal request at the Student Council for a prayer room which was later approved by the university. A Holy Quran and prayer rugs were set up in the university’s Chapel making it into a multi faith prayer room, making Icelandic history in the process.

“We are really very happy that we have a prayer room at the University of Iceland,” Head of the Islamic Association in Iceland Salmann Tamimi told IceNews. “It gives the opportunity for Muslim students who have to pray 5 times a day to be able to perform it at the right times. It helps the other non Muslim students and teachers to have a better understanding of Islam, which we are really in need of.” Salmann Tamimi is a graduate of the University of Iceland.

There are about 20 to 30 Muslim students at the University of Iceland from all over the world as well as Icelandic Muslims.

(Photo/Prayer room at University of Iceland, photo provided by Islamic Association of Iceland)

It doesn't sound very multi-faith to me; it sounds like only one faith in this room.

(The article does mention that it is in a "chapel" but the question is, are there any religious objects from any faith outside Islam in this room?)

Major Arab reporter calls for Palestinian Arab resettlement

In a stunning series of four articles in Al-Hayat (London), columnist Daoud Al-Shiryan looks at the reality of how Jordan, Lebanon and Syria keeps Palestinian Arabs in misery. MEMRI translates much of them, here are some highlights:

Objecting to [refugee] resettlement is no different than objecting to peace. It is nothing but an unrealistic slogan. The Arabs have agreed to peace, although they realize that there cannot be peace without [refugee] resettlement. But they disregard this fact, viewing the refugee issue as a point of controversy, when it is [actually] a central and key issue in the peace process. The fear [of being accused of renouncing the nationalist] slogans [calling for] struggle, resistance, and casting Israel into the sea - slogans which emerged at the outset of the peace process with Israel - and the link that has been established between the issue [of resettlement] and ethnic and political problems in some [Arab] countries - have [all] become an obstacle to a realistic and honest approach to the issue.
Arabs who object to the [refugee] resettlement plan contend that they are motivated by their zealous devotion to the Right of Return. But they have not lifted a finger to keep this right alive in the consciousness of the Palestinian 'detainees' in the camps of abasement. As a result, this spurious devotion has evoked the opposite reaction: a Palestinian [refugee] now hopes to emigrate to America, Europe, Canada, or Australia in order to escape the hell of the Palestinian refugee camps, which have played a part in killing his will to live.
It follows that [refugee] resettlement is [already] underway, despite [all the] slogans promoting the Right of Return that have become an [integral] part of the speeches of these countries' politicians.
There is no doubt that our next campaign [should be aimed at] defending the [refugee] resettlement program and demanding that it be implemented… [The host countries] must open up the refugee camps, which are not fit for human [habitation]. [They must] prohibit the trading in the lives of these people, whether this trading was in the name of security and or in the name of terrorism, and they must make it possible for Palestinians to work, to send their children to [public] schools, and to make a living without conditions or limitations. Without real change in the conduct of the countries 'detaining' the Palestinian [refugees], the number of those demanding resettlement will [only] increase. Opposition to [refugee] resettlement is specious; it is tantamount to the slow murder of the Palestinians…"

These countries must stop treating the Palestinians like a plague, using slogans which, as we all know, have become nothing but empty utterances in a loathsome struggle. We must break the isolation of the Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. A Palestinian should be made to feel like a welcome and dear guest - before some external intervention comes along and grants him the right to live in dignity, to everyone's consternation. "We must support the Palestinians like the West supported the Jews. We must reassess the whole idea of refugee camps, before they collapse on top of us. Be God-fearing [in handling the issue of] the refugee camp dwellers. Stop fighting at the expense of the Palestinian people's dignity.

Then he tells an amazing story:

[A] [Jewish] Lebanese woman, Hannah [Efraim], invited a Palestinian woman, Umm Bilal, to come spend the weekend at her house… [saying], 'I want you to help me pack my things, since I have decided to emigrate to the U.S. As you can see, the political and social situation after the 1958 [Lebanese civil] war does not encourage one to stay [in Lebanon], and intensifies sectarianism here. I prefer my son to live far away from Lebanon.' [Shortly thereafter,] Hannah left [Lebanon] and lost touch with Umm Bilal.
Upon her arrival in New York, Hannah received assistance from Jewish organizations. A short time later, she received U.S. citizenship, enrolled her son in a private school, and started working in a bank, earning a good salary. [Her son] Avraham grew up, finished university, and advanced at his job, becoming director-general of a reputable bank. Ten years after completing his degree he married, had three children, and bought a fine house in a New Jersey suburb [for himself], and another for his mother.
In 1995, Hannah decided to visit Lebanon and spend her summer vacation there. She arrived in Beirut and moved into a luxurious hotel. The next day, she asked her driver to take her to the refugee camp where Umm Bilal lived. She entered the camp and inquired after her. By nightfall, she managed to find her - [living] in a dilapidated hut with fabric-covered windows, her body ravaged by tuberculosis.
Hannah asked Umm Bilal about [her husband], Abu Bilal; Umm Bilal replied that he had died in the civil war. 'And what about [your son] Bilal?' [Hannah asked]. [Umm Bilal] replied, 'He is working at a bicycle repair shop down the street. His salary is barely enough to cover my basic needs and those of his three sisters.' 'Is Bilal married?' Hannah asked. 'In this hole, where would we get the money to feed another mouth?' [answered Umm Bilal].
'Aisha [Umm Bilal] is just one example among the thousands of Palestinian mothers [like her], and Hannah is just one example among the Jewish mothers [like her]. The Arabs kept the Palestinians in refugee camps and made into a people defeated both morally and materially. In contrast, the West welcomed the Jews and made them a leading [force] in science, arts, literature, economics, and politics.
Are we capable of reassessing the idea of the refugee camps, [thereby] saving the next generation of Palestinians from a fate [similar to that of] Bilal and his contemporaries? There is still an opportunity to do so.

What a concept - noticing that Arab governments treat Palestinian Arabs like dirt, and asking them to give them basic human rights! Too bad the West cannot perceive these obvious facts and believes the Arab lies that Israel is responsible for PalArab misery today.

American captive in Iran mixed up with yeshiva student

From the Jewish Week (NY):

In a widely disseminated error by news outlets and bloggers, Joshua Fattal, 27, currently a captive in Iran, is being confused with Joshua Fattal, a teenaged local yeshiva student who has written two articles for Fresh Ink, the high school supplement of The Jewish Week.

The case of mistaken identity has led to speculation that the older Fattal may be charged with being a “Zionist” spy.

Iran seized the older Fattal on July 31, along with two other Americans, Shane Bauer and Sara Shourd, after they allegedly strayed across the Iran-Iraq border near Kurdistan.

Although the captive Fattal attended college at the University of California at Berkeley, and has no connection to The Jewish Week or to any yeshiva, the mistaken
identity led Aljazeera.com, the Arab news service, to headline on Aug. 8: “Three Americans Held in Iran Are all Jews: Were They Spies?”

After perfunctory Internet searches for “Joshua Fattal,” several bloggers and news services apparently discovered the younger Fattal’s bylines for The Jewish Week, most recently for a June 3 article on the film “Defiance,” and falsely concluded that the captive Fattal is a Jewish journalist and Zionist, making him all the more vulnerable in Iran’s volatile political climate.

Al Jazeera reported that the captive Fattal “is a researcher in the American Jewish center and works for the Jewish magazine ‘The Jewish Week.’” An Iranian television station also identified the captive as “an extreme Zionist.”

"Honor": Uncle murders abused teen in Jordan

From the Jordan Times:

Criminal Prosecutor Ashraf Abdullah on Tuesday charged a 39-year-old man with the premeditated murder of his niece in the latest so-called honour crime to take place in Jordan.
The 16-year-old victim, who was not identified by officials, was shot nine times in the head and back, allegedly by her uncle, at her home in an Amman neighbourhood.

Upon questioning, the uncle told the police that he killed his “niece to cleanse his family’s honour,” the source added.

A second source told The Jordan Times that the girl was a victim of incestuous rape by two of her relatives almost 11 months ago and became pregnant.

“The victim delivered a baby boy almost two months ago with the knowledge of her father who took her to the hospital and supported her since she was a rape victim,” the source said.

But four days ago, the uncle “claimed that he learned of the incident and decided to kill her in the name of family honour,” the source added.

The victim became the 14th person reportedly murdered in a so-called honour crime since the beginning of the year.

To normal people, "family honor" would mean punishing the members of the family that raped the girl, not the girl herself.

Another faked quote - corrected 7 years later

Honest Reporting has the fascinating story of a fake quote by Moshe Yaalon that made it to major newspapers over years before it was proven false. To its immense credit, the Toronto Star had a large article tracing how the misquote started and traveled through articles and editorial pages.

And it all seems to have started out of the feverish mind of Israel-hater Henry Siegman.

The fake quote from Yaalon was that Israel must force it to "sear deep into the consciousness of Palestinians that they are a defeated people."

What he really said was that victory would be defined as "the very deep internalization by the Palestinians that terrorism and violence will not defeat us, will not make us fold. And later he said “The facts that are being determined in this confrontation -- in terms of what will be burned into the Palestinian consciousness -- are fateful. If we end the confrontation in a way that makes it clear to every Palestinian that terrorism does not lead to agreements, that will improve our strategic position.”

We have seen many times that quotes by Israeli leaders about defeating terrorism have been twisted into quotes that sound racist against Palestinian Arabs as a whole. A few examples can be seen here.

Other examples of fake quotes are here and here as well as (indirectly) here, where even the spokesperson was made up.

In this case, Siegman pretty much makes up the quote altogether - and it was believed by enough other editors as to have become accepted as fact.

To misquote Mark Twain, "A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." (He never said that, but it sure is true.)

(h/t ehwhy via email)

Egyptian murders wife for leaving house

From Daily News Egypt:

An Egyptian man has killed his wife by strangling her with a scarf and then stabbing her with a kitchen knife for leaving the house without his permission, newspapers reported on Saturday.
The woman infuriated her husband when she refused to explain why she left home without his authorization, the state-run Al-Gomhuria and the independent Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

Well, he couldn't not kill her...that would set a bad precedent.

Chalk up another victory for "honor."

Fatah joke

Leaders of the Palestinian Fatah terror movement are holding their annual convention this week.

Surprisingly, none of the delegates can find anyone willing to valet-park their cars.

- Jake Novak

Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports on the phenomenon of some Kurds trying to encourage Jews who left Kurdistan after 1948 to return.

The Arabic video shows magazines with Israeli flags on the covers.

Al Arabiya mentions that most Kurds are not opposed to the idea, except for those who live in old Jewish areas who are concerned about losing their homes from Jewish families reclaiming them.

T

here was a large Jewish community in Kurdistan for centuries, and it appears that the Jews and Kurds lived together peacefully for the most part. It also once had a brilliant female Jewish scholar, Asenath Barzani, who became the head of a yeshiva in Amadiyah and was considered not only a halachic and Kabbalah authority but also a miracle worker.

Kurdistan has a number of Jewish shrines, including the burial place of Jonah and Daniel.

There is a website that encourages Jewish/Israeli/Kurdish ties, called the Israel-Kurdistan Network.

Victoria Beckham gets Hebrew tattoo

Victoria Beckham, otherwise known as Posh Spice, has apparently added another Hebrew tattoo to one she already had.

Victoria Beckham has been photographed with a new Hebrew tattoo thought to be inked to celebrate her ten-year anniversary with footballer husband David.
The tattoo, which translates as "Together, forever, eternally", was seen as she recorded her guest spot on the panel of American Idol.
Victoria and David previously inked matching Hebrew tattoos quoting a verse from King Solomon's Song Of Songs, which translated as: "I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me."
Last year, Victoria was said to be "furious" at David's decision to get another tattoo on his arm, a Hebrew proverb that read: "My son, do not forget my teaching but keep my commands in your heart."
David has previously described himself as "half Jewish" as his maternal grandfather Joseph West was Jewish.

I have been unable to find a photo of this important cultural landmark, but I did find her old tattoo, Song of Songs 6:3:

And her husband's matching verse (the top part):

But, alas, so far no pictures of her new wrist tattoo.

UPDATE: joem found a picture with part of the Hebrew phrase at the Daily Mail:

Moderate PalArabs beat up grieving family

PCHR looks at the circumstances of the death of Fadi Hosni 'Abdul Rahman Hamadna, a Hamas member who died in prison that I mentioned yesterday. They do not have enough information to determine whether he was tortured to death or committed suicide (which is why I have not yet added it to the self-death count) but one detail of their report shows that respect for human lives is not exactly a high priority in PA prisons:

It is worth noting that a debate took place in the morning between the victim's father and brother on one hand and security officers and guards of Junaid Prison on the other hand, as the latter refused to allow the family to enter the prison to see the victim's body. The debate developed and security officers fired into the air and beat members of the family. The victim's father sustained a fracture to the head; his brother Mohammed sustained a fracture to the left hand; his brother Hani sustained bruises to the shoulder and back; and two relatives were injured. The vicinity of the prison was then declared a closed military zone.

Sensitivity. Honesty. Truth. This is the Palestinian Authority.

UNRWA denies- and Hamas confirms- ambulances confiscated

From JPost: (h/t t34zakat)

Hamas on Monday claimed to have confiscated three ambulances that were imported into the Gaza Strip for UNRWA several weeks ago, backing up an earlier IDF claim that the ambulances had been seized.

The deputy director of UNRWA’s Gaza office, Christer Nordal, stands in front of ambulances in the UNRWA compound in Gaza. Spokesman Christopher Gunness said this picture, distributed yesterday, showed that recent media reports of stolen ambulances were false.

But UNRWA, which last week denied an earlier Jerusalem Post article quoting IDF claims that the ambulances had been confiscated, reiterated Monday that the reports were false, said that the ambulances were safe and sound in its Gaza compound, and even distributed a photograph of one of its officials, Christer Nordal, posing with what it said were the vehicles in question.
According to a statement released by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Crossings Directorate on Monday, the ambulances were confiscated in late July because UNRWA did not have proper documentation to import them into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing.
In an August 4 e-mail obtained by the Post, UNRWA official Jodi Clark wrote to Israeli defense officials to state that the ambulances had been "impounded by the authorities in Gaza." The e-mail was sent by Clark to several Israeli defense officials as well as to John Ging, the director of UNRWA, and Nordal, his deputy. The e-mail later circulated throughout the Defense Ministry.
"The three ambulances we imported into Gaza two weeks ago are still impounded by the authorities in Gaza and we continue to negotiate their release which is not going well at this stage," Clark wrote in the e-mail.
She went on to ask the Israeli defense officials for their assistance in coordinating the transfer of three new ambulances into Gaza, but through the Erez crossing, "to avoid the authorities having the opportunity to seize the vehicles from us."Asked about Clark's e-mail, and about the official Hamas-run Gaza Crossings Directorate's claim to be holding the ambulances, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said that the e-mail had been recalled by Clark immediately after being sent and that the story based on its content was untrue. The Post was able to confirm that the e-mail was indeed recalled.
"The e-mail was recalled within minutes because the information contained in it was wrong," Gunness said. "The story is a house of cards based on information that was wrong. We have circulated pictures which prove it was wrong."

Another picture of "Jewish extremists storming Al Aqsa"

Palestine Today has another exclusive picture of rabid, violent Jewish extremists storming the Al Aqsa mosque and causing all sorts of havoc:

Doesn't it make your blood boil to see such desecration? One can only imagine the vast damage they cause merely with their tzitzit, provocatively hanging from under their shirts.

Egyptian scientist claims Pepsi made from pig intestines

Palestine Press Agency reports:

Egyptian scientist Dr. Mustafa Shakaa, the Chairman of the Monitoring Committee of the Supreme Council of Egyptian research, said that it has been proved beyond any doubt that through careful analysis that the content of Pepsi-Cola contains material from the intestines of pigs.

He goes on to say that the people who deny the story from Pepsi are Zionists and that they bribe officials to overlook the pig parts of Pepsi.

He goes on to say that Pepsi adds these components deliberately to help Pepsi get digested, but also that the Zionist Pepsi company has been laughing over the years from their plan to surreptitiously feeding pig meat to Muslims who drink the product.

This rumor has been around for years, as this interesting Muslim site points out:

Nevertheless, this rumor isn't sort of confined to weirdos and fringes, even Egyptian government sponsored websites or chatsites or whatever report it (in Arabic) here. What is most interesting about this latter post, as well as numerous similar posts out there in the blogosphere, is that they begin with the following title: "Have the Americans truly succeeded in ridiculing 2 billion Muslims and Arabs and caused them to drink all of these years carbonated beverages made from pig intestines?" Arabic readers:
هل نجح الأمريكيون بالفعل في أن يضحكوا على 2 مليار مسلم وعربي وجعلوهم يشربون طوال السنين مشروباتهم الغازية المصنعة من أمعاء الخنزير؟؟؟

So the rumor out there that has spread pretty far and wide is that Pepsi Cola, this huge ubiquitous presence in the Middle East (everyone has a Pepsi with dinner) with I would guess I don't really know billions of dollars of revenue per annum from the Muslim world is going to risk all of those substantial sums and a potential catastrophic drop in share price, for a laugh. I should note the piece gives other potential reasons they do this, relating to digestion and whatnot but the title provides the most prominent and important one. The posts explain if you drink Pepsi, you're participating in the humiliation and the ridicule of Islam and that more experiments will confirm this, at which time a decision will be made on the permissibility of Pepsi under the shari'a. These folks seem to suggest the conspiracy is partly proven by Pepsi's insistence on shipping the basic ingredients as a powder to its bottling plants, and not to disclose the ingredients of the powder when asked. apparently in this part of the cyberworld the only reason to protect a trade secret is to hide the distribution of pork to Muslims.

In a few of the blogs, the rumor gets sillier. Pepsi is an acronym for "Pay every penny to save Israel", they say. Pepsi was created 1898. The Balfour Declaration came in 1917. Herzl had only written the Jewish State two years earlier, the first Zionist Congress met in 1897. You've got to get pretty thick into anti-Semitic conspiracies to make Pepsi that prescient.

I guess that the rabbis who certify Pepsi kosher are also part of the conspiracy.

More rapes in Iranian prisons

From Al Jazeera :

One of the defeated reformist candidates in Iran's disputed presidential election is calling for an investigation into claims that anti-government protesters were raped while in custody.
Mehdi Karroubi said in a letter, made public on Monday, that a number of detainees had claimed that several women and men, arrested amid violent demonstrations, were repeatedly abused by their jailers.

"A number of detainees have said that some female detainees have been raped savagely," Karroubi said in the letter to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, an influential religious leader and former president.

"Young boys held in detention have also been savagely raped," he said, adding they were suffering from depression and serious physical harm after the alleged attacks.

Even Iran's PressTV could no longer ignore the accusations of rape in Iranian prisons.

Islamization of Gaza? Israel's fault!

Backspin notices a Guardian Comment is Free column by Ben White that rightfully exposes many recent Hamas abuses, as it turns Gaza into Taliban-era Afghanistan:

This context includes a young woman accosted by Hamas police on the beach, who then roughed up her male companions. It has also meant the harassment of shopkeepers displaying mannequins and lingerie packets. The background is a "virtue campaign" organised by the religious affairs ministry, which, in the words of the Hamas deputy religious affairs minister, is intended to "keep [people] away from sin".
While the rare incidents of physical violence are condemned by senior Hamas leaders, there is no doubting the pervasive atmosphere and policy direction. Government ministers from different departments have met to discuss a list of regulations to be implemented. As a piece in al-Akhbar noted two weeks ago, "women and the uses of technology seem to be the focus of the 'yes for virtue' campaign" whose purpose "according to Yousef Farhat, the general director of the public administration for preaching and guidance in the ministry, is to 'fight the non-ethical occurrences in Gaza'."

So when Islamists impose their misogynist and extreme interpretations of Islam on the general, suffering population, who is to blame?

Do you even have to guess?

But why is this happening now? One answer is that these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction. In the words of a Gaza human rights worker, isolation bred "extremism and dark ideas".

Why a "state of siege" naturally forces Hamas to impose Islamism on Gazans - something they promised not to do when they took over - is very unclear. But in the Guardian's universe, there is no path from A to an undesirable B that doesn't go through Israel.

In fact, White does have another reason why Hamas is subjecting Gazans to Islamic extremism. You see, Hamas is too moderate!

Already hit by criticism in Gaza by Islamic Jihad about a theoretical willingness to negotiate with Israel, it is possible that Hamas's leaders are seeking to safeguard its credibility and among the radical jihadist groups by off-balancing improving international relations with a domestic hard line.

The only reason Hamas has improved its international relations is because of idiots like Ben White who bend over backwards to find evidence of Hamas "moderation" even in an article about its extremism.

Way to go, Guardian!

Fatah still calls to "liquidate the Zionist entity"

From the BBC:

International observers have been watching to see if Fatah, which committed itself to peace negotiations in the early 1990s, would rule out armed struggle.
But according to conference delegates, most of the movement's old charter was maintained, including its call to "liquidate the Zionist entity".
A commitment to "two states for two people" was added, specifying that a Palestinian state be established on the basis of 1967 borders - meaning all of the West Bank and Gaza, delegates said.
Fatah members said a clause was also included stating that "peace is a strategic choice", but Fatah "maintains the right of resistance... by all means possible", in line with a statement made by Mr Abbas on Tuesday.

How can these be reconciled?

The 4th Fatah conference in 1980 was one time that Fatah used the terminology "liquidate the Zionist entity," and it made no doubts about what it meant then:

“Al-Fatah is an independent national revolutionary movement, whose aim is to liberate Palestine completely and to liquidate the Zionist entity politically, economically, militarily, culturally and ideologically.

The battle for liberating Palestine is part of the nationalist (pan-Arab) struggle and, therefore, it is the duty of the entire Arab nation to support this battle with all its moral and material means.

“The only way to achieve our aim is through the armed popular revolution. The armed revolution of the Palestinian Arab people is a decisive factor in the battle of liberation and the liquidation of the Zionist presence.

“This struggle will not stop until the Zionist entity is liquidated and Palestine is liberated.”

Its call to merely liquidate the Zionist entity seems positively moderate by comparison!

So one needs to be very skeptical when Fatah supposedly also says it supports "two states for two people[s]." It has made very clear that the idea of a Jewish state is anathema, so it cannot possibly mean a Jewish state and a Palestinian state. More likely, it would be a Palestinian Arab state within the Green Line - created by a massive forcible "return" of Arabs to Israel - besides the Palestinian Arab state in the territories. The words "two states for two peoples" does not mean that it cannot be 40% of a state for one people and 60% of a state - plus another 100% of another - for the other.

Which fits in with the idea that "peace is a strategic choice" - one that they hope, via demographics and the cynical "right of return," would lead to the destruction of Israel.

The only modification from the 1980 platform is the third paragraph shown above: they see that a fake "peace process" is an additional way to achieve the aim of liquidating Israel, not only "armed popular revolution."

Another Hamas prisoner "commits suicide" in PA prison

In February, a Hamas member died in a PA prison. Hamas accused the PA of torture; the PA claimed that it was a suicide, by hanging. The PA investigation found - surprise, surprise - that this religious Muslim did indeed commit suicide, and there were no signs of torture on his body (even though other witnesses said they had seen evidence of torture.)

Now we have an incredible case of deja vu:

A Hamas-affiliated detainee died while in the custody of Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces at Juneid prison in Nablus, a security official told Ma'an on Monday afternoon.

Hamas said his death was the result of torture.

According to the PA's version of events, Hamarna was found dead after he hung himself with a bed sheet tied around his neck.

What a coincidence!

Bias

Everyone is biased.

This statement seems self-evident, but some people seem to insist that their favorite sources - whether it is CNN, the New York Times, the BBC, Amnesty International, the IDF, the PCHR or Pakistan Daily - are above such things, and truly look at things with an unbiased eye.

This is absurd and dangerous.

When testing the veracity of someone's reporting or claims, there are a number of things to take into account: what their bias might be, whether they ignore any facts and highlight others, and how the facts inform their opinions.

NGOs have a vested interest in appearing unbiased, but they also have a vested interest in pushing their agendas. Above all, "human rights" organizations need to justify their existence. The main reason is in order to continue to receive funding, often from governments. A highly important secondary reason is that there is no value to them of investigating alleged abuses and finding that things are not so bad, or can be put into context. From their perspectives, their job is to find human rights abuses, not to expose context or nuance.

A clear result is that they will have a bias towards believing the claims of those who allege HR abuse and a bias against those who deny it or contextualize it. If they throw enough resources at an issue, they'll find things to report, no matter what, and in the absence of facts they will rely more on shaky testimonies or "experts" who have little real experience.

Of course, governments and armies have biases as well. In order to find the truth, one must look at what both parties have to say and see which one has more facts on their side. Looking only at parties who have a clear agenda to find abuse is not only inadequate but fallacious.

When looking at the Gaza operation, it is easy to fall in the trap of saying that Amnesty International or HRW or Physicians for Human Rights are unbiased, and that anything that the IDF says in response is by definition biased. How can you possibly find an unbiased human rights organization that would place the same weight on what the IDF says as to what a seemingly homeless old man says?

I am biased as well, obviously. But when looking at the competing claims of the human rights groups and the IDF, along with their supporting evidence, it is clear that the HR organizations allow their biases to push the directions of their reports. It is also clear that they haven't the foggiest notion of how wars are fought. For Amnesty to make blanket statements that the IDF killed hundreds of unarmed civilians, with the clear implication that somehow they could have fought a war without that happening, borders on the irresponsible even as it is factual. To them, every single civilian death is somehow a human rights abuse on the part of Israel, and the millions of dollars and thousands of hours Israel spends to minimize those deaths (as well as to help the injured) is irrelevant.

That is not an unbiased view; that is slander. Not to mention ignorant of the realities of war.

Today, the IDF responded to a PHR report on Gaza. It pointed out that many of the PHR claims were, simply put, lies. Similarly, the IDF report on Cast Lead showed that many of the claims made by the media and human rights organizations were inaccurate or false.

If the human rights groups were truly unbiased, they would go through each of the IDF claims one by one and try to prove them wrong as well - and, when appropriate, admit their own mistakes and shortcomings. But they never do, because they already have their "comprehensive" reports and if they would admit mistakes it would impact their fundraising efforts.

Truth is not their goal. Those who think otherwise are just fooling themselves.

(In the case of some NGOs, like PCHR, of course the bias is far deeper and simply anti-Israel to begin with. And one cannot discount the inherent anti-Israel bias that the people who gravitate to these sorts of organizations tend to have. But even without that, the bias is there and must be examined just as critically as the bias that the IDF has towards its own people.)

Fatah Follies, day 6

The Fatah conference continues, having been extended from its intended conclusion on Thursday to this coming Tuesday. And the stories leaking out indicate that Fatah is still a corrupt, terrorist, disorganized mess.

Early in the conference there was controversy about allowing a leader of the supposedly-defunct Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades from attending, probably just a snafu. He told the conference on Thursday that Palestinian unity is important - even if they have to use violence to get it. Of course, he added, Fatah should use terror against Israel as well.

Serious procedural problems emerged, as the printed lists of candidates for the two major committees (the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council) were inconsistent, sometimes with leading candidates missing and some with candidates listed twice. Marwan Barghouti's name was missing in three of five lists distributed. Slates of candidates who hate each other were presented as if they were in the same sub-party. People spread false rumors that candidates had withdrawn their names hours before voting, affecting their chances. The Lebanese contingent suffered a serious split as two competing leaders ran for major positions. Conspiracy theories abound.

Another Fatah leader accused the conference of "rigging the vote" against the Gaza attendees.

On the other hand, there were moves to heal the rift between Mahmoud Abbas and Farouk Kaddoumi, his Tunisian-based terrorist rival and secretary-general of the PLO, who accused Abbas of conspiring to assassinate Yasir Arafat. It appears that Kaddoumi got some of his candidates running for major positions.

Meanwhile, Hamas not only stopped Fatah leaders there from attending, but they even confiscated their cell phones to stop them from voting! Some articles have assumed that Iran is behind Hamas' actions to try to sabotage the conference.

All in all, Fatah has proven it cannot even govern itself. Why do people still think they can lead anyone else?