Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, October 11, 2010

But Israel should teach the truth about the Nakba

Of course, we still need to grapple with what Israel teaches its students. It seems to me that only one thing needs to be taught: the truth. If Israeli schools completely ignore talking about some 600,000 Palestinian Arabs having left their homes, some of them (but far from the majority) forced out by the Haganah and IZL, they are failing. If they teach the skewed Palestinian Arab narrative of forced dispossession and unending massacres, they are failing worse.

Yes, teach the Nakba - but teach what really happened. Of course it was a catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people, but the continuing catastrophe of what has happened to them since 1948 at the hands of their Arab brothers needs to be taught as well.

Yes, there were some massacres and Israel should be embarrassed - but there was also heroism, there were also miracles, there was also the overriding moral imperative to survive and beat back an onslaught that was literally meant to be genocidal.

Teach about how Palestinian Arab nationalism was weak to nonexistent in 1948. Teach how Jordan and Egypt's occupations of "Palestinian" land were not protested. Teach the history of the Mufti and his terror sprees against Jews (not Zionists - Jews.) Teach about how Arab refugees in Israel were integrated into society while those in Arab lands were treated like garbage, and still are. Teach about how UNRWA has ensured that the "refugee" problem will fester until Israel is destroyed.

All of these need to be taught. It doesn't mean that Israeli youngsters shouldn't feel the appropriate sorrow for the suffering of their enemy, but it also doesn't mean that they should forget that they are still the enemy, and the moral imperative is to ensure your own survival before worrying about that of those who tried, and still desire, to destroy you.

For an example of what must be taught, here is an article that I have quoted years ago, from Dorothy Bar-Adon in the Palestine Post, August 17, 1948. In it she discusses how she feels bad over the fact that her neighboring Arab village fled - but also says exactly why they cannot return. It strikes the perfect balance between humanity and self-preservation. Acknowledging the fact that 1948 was a disaster for Arabs in Palestine is not a violation of the Zionist narrative; it should be part and parcel of it - but it must be put in the proper context of the time and the place.

Because the alternative was unimaginably worse.

PA throws away huge PR victory. Because they hate Israel that much.

Ha'aretz had an exclusive story today that looked very embarrassing to Israel:

The Palestinian Authority's Education Ministry approved the use of a history textbook that offers the central narratives of both Palestinians and the Zionist movement, marking the first time that the accepted Israeli position is being presented to schoolchildren in the West Bank.

The textbook, which has been banned from use by the Israeli Education Ministry, is the result of a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Swedish collaboration to promote coexistence through education. It will be taught in two high schools near Jericho, the Palestinian Education Ministry said.

Next week, the Education Ministry is scheduled to summon the principal of a Sderot area high school for "clarification" after he had permitted the use of the textbook by students in a special supplementary educational course.

Aharon Rothstein, the head of the Sha'ar Hanegev high school, may be reprimanded for allowing students to reference a textbook entitled "Learning the Historical Narrative of the Other," a project initiated by Prof. Dan Bar-On of Ben-Gurion University and Prof. Sami Adwan of Bethlehem University.

"Unfortunately, the Palestinians are further along than the Israeli Education Ministry when it comes to acknowledging the other side of the conflict," said an official involved in administering the textbook in the Sha'ar Hanegev school. "While [the Palestinians] approved the project, here they are summoning the principal for clarifications. This is a highly embarrassing situation."

Any news story that would make Palestinian Arabs look more liberal than Israelis would be a huge PR victory; a devastating riposte to those who contrast the openness and liberalism in Israel and the hate and intolerance in the PA administered territories.

So, predictably, the PA threw it all away:

A Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education official denied on Monday approving a textbook which teaches schoolchildren the Zionist and Palestinian narrative.

A member of the PA ministry's curriculum committee Thwarwat Zaid rebuffed a report in Israeli daily Haaretz that the textbook had been approved and said the committee neither knew of the book nor read it.

The PA had a choice to win a huge propaganda victory - or let some of their high school kids learn the Zionist narrative along with their own. The thought of teaching anything remotely resembling Zionism was so repulsive that they'd rather throw it all away.

(to be continued - what Israel needs to teach)

UPDATE: See also my posts on the textbook itself.

A Jordanian who gets it

From The Qudosi Chronicles, an srticle by Mudar Zahran:

Israel’s relationship to the Palestinians has always been globally approached with standardized heavy criticism made to Israel. The main charges waved in Israel’s face have always been “the Disapropriate use of force” and “discrimination”.

Israel’s critics, either willingly or out of ignorance, choose to overlook the way many Arab countries mistreat Palestinians. Some Arab countries are almost never blamed for what they have been doing to the Palestinians for decades. Such selective recognition of facts by Israel’s critics is bizarre when weighed by truth instead of myths.

In December of 2008, Israel launched operation “Cast Lead” against Hamas which was launching rockets on Southern Israel on a daily basis. This operation has resulted in the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians, many said to be civilians; an absolute tragedy, nonetheless, those criticizing Israel fail to recognize that the number of causalities is small comparing to Gaza’s population of 1.5 million, considering the high density of Gaza’s population per square kilometre, the number suggests the Israeli forces were very cautious in carrying out their attacks, despite the fact that they were chasing a moving target, Hamas militants. If Israeli forces were targeting Palestinian civilians, the number of the dead would have reached tens of thousands.

On comparison; in 1976, Lebanese militiamen butchered 2,000 Palestinians; almost wiping out the entire population of Tell al-Zaatar refugee camp within days. This was revisited again in 1982 in Sabra and Shatelah massacre; where, in less than four days, Lebanese militiamen killed thousands of women and children who posed no threat as most Palestinian fighters had left then to Tunisia. Two years ago, al-Jazeera satellite network aired rare footage of Palestinians running to Israeli soldiers for refuge from the massacre.

Furthermore, most Arab atrocities against Palestinians have included documented rape cases, even of children, while not a single rape case has been reported against Israeli forces in more than sixty years of operations.

Arab governments’ oppression of the Palestinians does not stop at bloodshed and wholesale slaughters, in fact the more troubling aspects of the way they treat Palestinians is in the systematic long-range exclusion and discrimination. In Arab countries where Palestinians make up a good percentage of the population; they are deprived of all basic necessities, starting with education, down to basic healthcare. Even at countries that have granted the Palestinians citizenships, the Palestinians stand helpless and banned from every potential to improve their livelihoods.

Israel, on the other hand, has always allowed Palestinians to work there and to get paid in Western standards, and even had allowed them generous access to healthcare. In fact, Israel has also welcomed Palestinians as visitors, patients and even as investors, this generosity was only limited when Hamas started bombing Israeli civilians with no signs of an end in sight.

The complexity Israel has with Palestinians revolves around security rather than ideological issues; Israel does not have an aim to enslave the Palestinians for life or purposely degrade their humanity. While many Arab countries have designed their systems to discriminate and humiliate the Palestinians, squeezing them into illiteracy and poverty while milking them for tax money.

This has become most visible recently with calls in some Arab countries to revoke citizenships of all Palestinians there and actually to force them to seek local guarantors to obtain residency, thus enslaving them for life.

This comes as a deeper shock for Palestinians when they see Israeli Arabs, with many of them describing themselves as “Palestinians in Israel”; those are full citizens of Israel with access to all privileges. Israeli Arabs are fully represented inside the Knesset while Palestinians, in their Arab homeland, are allowed only symbolic presence in parliaments, even at countries where they are the majority. And while some Arab countries selectively withdraw citizenships from Palestinians, many Arab Knesset members do not hesitate to speak against Israel with no fear of losing their citizenships or entitlements.

Still, while the world is most vocal about Israeli military operations, it fails to recognize that Israel has been dealing with non-stop unrest on its soil since the breakout of the Intifada in 1987. Had that Intifada taken place in any Arab country, it would have ended within the first couple of weeks with an Arab army killing more than ten thousand Palestinians, most being civilians. Examples of this are countless and in all Arab countries hosting Palestinians; yet the world seems to think this reality is too overrated to recognize.

Today, with peace negotiations up and running, some Arab governments seem to want to butcher the Palestinians again on the altar of dictatorship by worsening their living conditions and making their lives more miserable, just to secure a better negotiating position or merely a seat at the negotiations table. Not to mention that many of those actually would rather see the negotiations fail in order to keep more international aid money flowing to them for “hosting” the Palestinians.

Quoting a commentator on one of my articles; “the Palestinians, do obviously need a break from their sworn Arab friends”, and perhaps they can reconnect to them when they have learned a lesson or two from their Israeli “enemies”.

Meanwhile, the world will remain silent about the Palestinians’ suffering at the hands of some of their “brothers”, as it’s too occupied with Israel.

Mudar Zahran is a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage. Zahran attended Southern New Hampshire University, graduating with two masters. He has served as a strategist for the American Embassy in Amman, reporting to it and the American Embassy in Baghdad until recently. During his time there, Zahran covered major political issues for the embassy. His work has been reported to senior officials in DC, including the Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Treasury and DHS.

Zahran writes for several Arab media outlets and has been basically banned from many for his approach towards taboo issues in the Middle East, nonetheless, his articles are available on the Arab Times, the most read Arab newspaper online, and they are highly circulated on Arab internet media. Zahran writes op-eds for the Jerusalem Post. Zahran has also served as an economist and a researcher respectively at the Japanese and the Australian Embassies in Amman. He is considered an insider on Jordanian and Iraqi politic. Zahran is currently a researcher at the University of Bedfordshire, where he will secure a Ph.d in 2011.

(h/t EBoZ)

Al Jazeera thinks I'm an expert in Egyptian politics?

I just got this email:

Hello,

Greetings from London. I hope you are well. This is Gouri and I work at the Listening Post, Al Jazeera's weekly media review show. Our broadcast takes a critical look at global media.

For this week's broadcast we are preparing a report on press freedom in Egypt following the sacking of one of the country's most critical editors Ibrahim Eissa. I came across your blog post and your knowledge of the report would strengthen the analysis of our report. Would you like to take part in the show as a GVV?

If so, you could consider the questions below:

1) Why do editors like Ibrahim Eissa pose such a threat to authorities in Egypt? What is it about their work that bothers them so much?
(2) Is the crackdown on the media now a knee-jerk reaction with the upcoming elections in mind, or is this a trend?
(3) Who is pushing back at the limits of freedom of expression in Egypt? How are they getting away with it?

Alternatively, feel free to formulate your own statement, our only request is that you stay to the media angle of the story. All you would need to do is a record a 30-40 second video clip of your answers. You would need to own or have access to a webcam or camcorder. Record your response (please frame your head and shoulders in the shot and talk directly to the camera) and save it to a .mov or .wmv file. Then upload the file to www.yousendit.com making the recipient address listeningpost@aljazeera.net or you could try and email the file directly
to me.

We are editing this report early this week so our deadline is tomorrow. I appreciate it's short notice but do you think you'd be interested in taking part?

Kind regards,

Gouri

The post I made on the topic didn't even include any editorializing on my part.

Unfortunately, I had to decline my chance to be a video star on Al Jazeera.

Eissa's firing remains a very hot topic in Egypt; I've seen interesting op-eds on the issue but I certainly do not understand all the politics behind it. Even if I wanted to out myself on Al Jazeera!

Why isn't Egypt importing Gaza vegetables?

We have seen reports about how the tunnel trade in Gaza has been reversed from imports to exports. Many fruits and vegetables are more expensive in Egypt than in Gaza.

Over the weekend, an Egyptian man became enraged over how much his wife paid for tomatoes, and threw her off the second-floor balcony. She was badly injured.

So why doesn't Egypt import Gaza vegetables? As far as I can tell, there is no agreement with Israel prohibiting Egypt from doing that. The Rafah crossing is not optimized for trucks, but certainly some amount of goods could be sent through.

Just asking...

Gaza man sets son on fire. Moonbat blames Israel. (updated)

From Ma'an:

A father from Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza killed his son by setting fire to him because the boy refused to help the family pick olives, police said.

Security forces identified the father as AN, and said the 40-year-old threatened to torch his son Mohammed, 14, when he refused to help him harvest olives. The father then sent the boy's brother to get Benzene and gave him 2 shekels ($0.50) to buy a lighter.

Police said AN chased Mohammad into the bathroom, and poured fuel over him. The boy managed to escape and ran towards his grandmother's house next door, but his father caught him and set alight to him. Mohammad's grandmother told police that she opened the door to find her grandson's body burned.

This is a tragic story of a murder (Arabic coverage quotes the father as saying he just wanted to scare his son, not kill him.)

But check out the first comment in the English version of the story in Ma'an:

1) Maureen / Australia 10/10/2010 22:35
Jabala refugee camp. Without Zionist occupation of Palestine, families would not be struggling, physically and mentally, to exist under a Zionist strangle hold.

This is the new version of anti-semitism among the Left. If an Arab kills an Arab, it must be the "Zionists'" fault. The sheer lack of ability to think clearly, the amount of hate that it takes to blame a case of a father murdering his own son on Israel, shows that extreme leftist anti-Zionism has nothing to do with Zionism - it is just a new manifestation of anti-semitism, using Israel as a proxy for Jews. (But calling out this fact exposes one to accusations of watering down the term "anti-semitism.")

Nowhere did I see any Arabs blame this murder on Israeli "occupation." Their hatred is endemic, to be sure, and when they speak to Western media they will indeed blame everything on Israel, but at least they know deep down that they have to take at least some measure of responsibility for their actions.

Some on the extreme Left, however, just cannot help but to look at every single event that occurs in the Middle East through the glasses of their intense hatred for Israel. To them, bereft of the ability to think logically, Israel represents the ultimate evil, and the ultimate source for all evil. Israel is, to these moonbats, Satan. Therefore, if anything bad happens anywhere, it must be traceable back somehow to Zionists, or, often, Jews who are assumed to be Zionists.

It is a sickness, no less than traditional anti-semitism. I once named this "misoziony" to distinguish it from old-style anti-semitism and to deflect the criticism that the latter term brings up.

To the credit of most of Ma'an's commenters, Maureen was roundly criticized for her statement. Yet there are plenty of websites out there - some prominent - that espouse Maureen's way of thinking.

UPDATE: I've seen plenty of pictures of dead "martyrs" in the PalArab media, but I still cannot wrap my head around this: they are publishing pictures of the dead boy.

More cars stoned in Silwan (video)

Israel's Channel Two interviews a woman, Keren Levy, who (along with her daughter) passed by the exact spot that David Be'eri was ambushed by rock throwers on Friday. She was hysterical as she shows the large rocks that managed to break her window.

For some reason, the international media that was on the scene must have moved on at that point.

During the interview, the Israeli journalists get attacked themselves by stones.

David Be'eri is also interviewed in this segment, describing why he had no choice - either to keep driving or to use his own weapon, which would have been worse.

This is what the Palestinian Authority proudly describes as "peaceful resistance."

(h/t Joel)

UPDATE: Arab residents of Silwan were interviewed by Israel's Channel 2. Some said how much they hated the Jews in their neighborhood, including Be'eri, but off the record others said that they felt that Be'eri had no choice and they would have acted the same.

This indicates how fearful Arabs are of saying anything that can be construed as being the slightest bit sympathetic towards Israel - they are in fear for their own well-being. Yet Western reporters never factor this into their dramatic interviews with poor Palestinian Arab victims of Israeli aggression.

Interview with Mavi Marmara witness contradicts UN report

The Turkish author of a book about the Mavi Marmara, Şefik Dinç, who was on board the ship, gave an interview with Israel's Channel 1 and further confirmed Israel's version of events - and contradicted the extraordinarily biased and false UNHRC report about the ship.

The UNHRC claimed, for example, that the IDF used live ammunition from the helicopters before the soldiers landed. This means that the IHH supporters were just standing on deck, being picked off one by one, without running away. Of course, not a single video of the incident shows a Turkish passenger down while the IDF troops descend to be mercilessly beaten.

Şefik Dinç confirms the IDF version of event, that troops only opened fire when they saw their comrades' lives were in danger.

Interviewer: According to your eyewitness account, IDF soldiers only opened fire when they felt that their own lives or the lives of their fellow soldiers were in danger.

Dinç: As you know, I was on board the ship. I saw with my own eyes that when the soldiers came on helicopters and started landing on the ship, they did not fire. It wasn’t until the soldiers were met with resistance and realized that some of their friends’ lives were in danger that they began using live ammunition.

Interviewer: Did you notice anyone using knives or iron bars?

Dinç: Actually, I saw no knives being used. I did see iron bars being used.

The UNHRC report allows that the IDF did not treat elderly or women passengers harshly, but claims extreme abuse of the men, as well as insults to the women.

134. In the process of being detained, or while kneeling on the outer decks for several hours, there was physical abuse of passengers by the Israeli forces, including kicking and punching and being hit with the butts of rifles. One foreign correspondent, on board in his professional capacity, was thrown on the ground and kicked and beaten before being handcuffed. The passengers were not allowed to speak or to move and there were frequent instances of verbal abuse, ncluding derogatory sexual remarks about the female passengers.

The account of Dinç, who is a man, is quite different:

Interviewer: In your book, you describe cases of humane treatment from IDF soldiers [of the detained ship passengers], such as removing their handcuffs, and even an interesting encounter in Israel with a Jew of Turkish descent who gave you his mobile phone.

Dinç: The soldiers uncuffed some people who were having difficulties, particularly older people, women, and people who did not act aggressively. As for the Israeli policeman, his Turkish was excellent, we spoke, and he said that he had immigrated to Israel from Istanbul. He asked me if I contacted my family and whether I had a telephone to make a call. I told him I didn’t, and then he gave me his own mobile phone so that I could call my family. I thank him again.

The "witnesses" interviewed by the UN had motive to lie - after all, they were motivated to go on a mission to demonize Israel to begin with. Even so, the UN believed their testimony over video evidence that contradicted their stories, saying that the already biased witnesses were more reliable than the video that was released (para. 20.)!

Yet here is a real witness who had no incentive to lie, and whose account corroborates the IDF's version of events in almost every detail.

Don't expect the UNHRC to acknowledge that their very methodology of gathering evidence was flawed from the start.

(h/t Joel)

Fermale Al Azhar students protest full-body searches

Interesting story in Egypt's Al Masry al-Youm:

Female students at Al-Azhar University in the Nile Delta city of Zagazig on Sunday staged a sit-in on campus, claiming they had been assaulted by campus security after refusing to submit to body searches.

Police eventually dispersed the protesters, arresting ten male students that had been supporting their female colleagues.

According to one protester, female students were beaten by campus police after they asked to be searched by female security personnel.

Another student said protesters had been dispersed with fire hoses, claiming that ambulances had been prevented from aiding students injured in the melee. Only one student, reportedly suffering from internal bleeding, was allowed to be taken to hospital, the student said.

Nevertheless, female students have continued to demonstrate off campus, calling for the dismissal of University Dean Abdel Aziz Gibril for allowing the violations. They have also called on Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb to protect them from alleged security excesses.

According to one anonymous security source, students pelted security personnel with stones, injuring two men.

Sounds like a human rights issue. Yet there is no mention about these protests outside the Egyptian media.

Will Zionist expansionism never end?

From Iran's PressTV:

Iran's Ambassador to Armenia Ali Saqa'ian says Israel is creeping into the South Caucasus region and putting the safety of the entire region in jeopardy.

"The Zionist regime [of Israel] is covertly infiltrating into the South Caucasus region, posing a serious threat to regional security," Saqa'ian said on Sunday.

"This is an extremely important region, and this is why Western powers, the US, and even the Israeli regime have an eye on it," he was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying.

I wonder if these Zionists are stealing land, or buying it?

Fears increase over Hezbollah designs for a Lebanon coup

Khaled Abu Toameh wrote last week:

Hizbullah and Iran now have a common interest in escalating tensions in the Middle East: Hizbullah, with the help of Iran, may be planning to stage a coup in Lebanon to cover up and divert attention from its role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

.Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's plan to visit Lebanon in the coming weeks should be seen in the context of Hizbullah's plot to take over the country. Some Lebanese have gone as far as condemning the visit as a "provocation," noting that it would also raise tensions between Lebanon and Israel because of Ahmadinejad's plan to tour the border between the two countries.

The UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon is about to publish the results of its investigation into the killing of the former prime minister. According to reliable sources, the report is expected to hold Hizbullah responsible for the assassination.

Now that its true face is about to be unmasked, Hizbullah is of course panicking and searching for ways to get out of the sinkhole.

Hizbullah's rhetoric and actions in recent weeks suggest that the Shiite organization is up to no good....

"Hizbullah does not acknowledge the Lebanese state as sovereign," said Michael Young, an opinion editor at Beirut's The Daily Star and author of "The Ghosts of Martryrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon's Life Struggle."

Young pointed out that Hizbullah had already staged something similar to a coup two years ago. "The armed takeover of Beirut in May 2008 confirmed that Hizbullah would fire on its fellow citizens and regarded state authority and the rule of law as thin veneers to be swept away when necessary," he said.

Ahmadenijad would of course welcome the opportunity to export the "Islamic Revolution" to Lebanon. Instability in the region would divert attention from his nuclear ambitions and allow him to fulfill his dream of wiping Israel off the map.

A victory for Iran and Hizbullah in Lebanon would also be a victory for Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad -- and Al-Qaeda.

We've mentioned a number of troubling stories in recent weeks in Lebanon, many of which Toameh details as well.

Ya Libnan quotes a Kuwaiti newspaper that echoes these concerns, and even puts on a date:

As soon as the Iranian president Mahmouad Ahmadinejad leaves the country Hezbollah is reportedly planning to oust the state and the government institutions.

“October 16 would be the start of the scheme of ousting the State and the government through creating discord and security tensions in areas that are apt to stir (sectarian) sensitivities, such as the Beirut area of Tariq al-Jdideh or the city of Tripoli, ” Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai reportedly quoted its diplomatic sources as saying.

Ahmadinejad will be arriving on October 13 on a 2-day official visit to Lebanon.

Arab diplomatic sources have reportedly warned against a deterioration of the security situation in Lebanon, saying “armed de facto forces may try to impose their political agenda by force.”

The sources added that “the Arab, regional and western countries following up on the Lebanese situation” have been directly and indirectly informed that Hezbollah and its allies “will not agree to any political settlement that contradicts with their goal of overthrowing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) .”

“They would implement their agenda of changing the regime in case they failed in overthrowing the tribunal,” the sources warned.

On Saturday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a denial of any plans for a coup - but that denial was also implicitly a threat. In his words:

[W]e must not run away and say that Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria want to implement a coup - this is vacuous talk, since we are not thinking about that. If we wanted to take over, we would have done it in 2005, but we do not want that and did not do it. Likewise, we would have taken over the country in 15 August 2006 if we had wanted that. So this talk has no basis- stop it, and do not go into side matters. Return to the foundational issue.”

The subtext is that Hezbollah can take over the country whenever it wants, so the rest of the country must toe Hezbollah's line - or else.

(h/t Samson for Toameh link.)

Gaza humor

Al Arabiya in Arabic has an article about the jokes that Gazans tell each other, to get an idea of how they think and what the political atmosphere is.

Thanks to Ali, I got them translated. (Auto-translslation rarely works for humor!)

The humor from the first set of jokes come from the fact that they are, in many ways, true.

1) Netanyahu has surgery in his foot in August. Various Palestinian factions declare responsibility. (This one reminds me of a very old Dry Bones, where a terrorist reads a newspaper about a gas explosion in Israel killing some kids, and asks his secretary to call the newspapers and claim responsibility, saying that terrorists must keep up on the news.)

2) Hamas forced students to repeat final exams in the Strip. The reason? 8 of the top 10 scores were from Fatah members and only 2 were from Hamas.

3) "Capture an Israeli soldier and receive a free Hummer! Offer valid until Israeli jails are emptied" (presumably from prisoner swaps.)

4) An Israeli soldier tried to search a woman. She told him, "Get out of my face or I'll make sure you are in the headlines."

The bulk of the recent jokes, however, are about the electricity shortages in Gaza:

5) Benefits of electric outages include:
* Helps students get to bed early.
* Allows for romantic time with your wife under candlelight.
* The frequent deaths because of fires and generators exploding increase the chance of men getting invited to funerals and houses of consolation, where they could receive free meals.

6) The Gaza electric company has been renamed. The new name is the "Sabotage of Electricity Company."

7) Advertisement from electric company: "We give you a good excuse for not accepting guests into your house: just say that 'We are saving our candles for birthday parties only.' "

8) Another ad from electric company: "Are you worried about your husband staying out too late? We insure he comes home early by cutting off the electricity on places where he could be hanging out with his friends!"

9) Another ad: "We cut off the electricity, so you can enjoy the great outdoors!"

10) Another ad: "We protect women's rights by ensuring that she receives her dowry, her ring, and her generator."

Washington Post pulls cartoon WITHOUT Mohammed

Last Sunday, the Washington Post refused to publish the following cartoon:

The catch is - Mohammed is not depicted in the picture at all.

Yet, the Washington Post and other newspapers refused to run the cartoon, out of the potential that some Muslims somewhere might be offended.

The WaPo's ombudsman writes:

[Cartoonist Wiley] Miller is fuming. The award-winning cartoonist, who lives in Maine, told me the cartoon was meant to satirize "the insanity of an entire group of people rioting and putting out a hit list over cartoons," as well as "media cowering in fear of printing any cartoon that contains the word 'Muhammad.' "

"The wonderful irony [is that] great newspapers like The Washington Post, that took on Nixon . . . run in fear of this very tame cartoon, thus validating the accuracy of the satire," he said by e-mail.

...Yes, Miller was trying to be provocative. But "Non Sequitur" followers expect that. And there's a difference between provoking anger and provoking readers to think.

Surely some may be displeased by "Where's Muhammad?" But unlike with the Danish cartoons, it's hard to imagine it would incite protests. Miller intentionally did not depict Muhammad, and the cartoon is not a blasphemous attack on the prophet. If anything, it's a powerful and witty endorsement of freedom of expression.

Post editors believe their decision was prudent, given the past cartoon controversies and heightened sensitivities surrounding Islam. But it also can be seen as timid. And it sets an awfully low threshold for decisions on whether to withhold words or images that might offend.

"Timid" is way understated. "Utterly dhimmified" comes a bit closer. At least the WaPo ombudsman gets it.

(h/t Jawa Report)

Palestinian Authority TV quiz show: Israeli cities are "Palestinian"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

The following are transcripts from this PA TV program,The Cedar and the Olive Tree,whose purpose was to reinforce the message that the Palestinian Authority does not recognize the legitimacy and jurisdiction of Israel anywhere. PMW is citing a number of examples from the program, including messages that recur, to demonstrate the use of repetition as one method of political indoctrination used by the Palestinian Authority and PA TV.

PA TV is under the direct control of the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The following are transcripts from different days:

Host: "Name five cities in Palestine and we'll give you a prize."
Teenage Girl: "Haifa, Acre, Ramallah, Jaffa, and Jerusalem."
[Note: Haifa, Acre, Jaffa and Jerusalem are cities in Israel. The girl was rewarded $100 for correct answer.]

Host: "Can you name five cities in Palestine?"
Woman: "I'm here for a visit; I don't know."
Host: "You don't know five cities in Palestine?"
Woman: "No."
Host: "You mean you haven't heard of Jerusalem?"
Woman: "I've heard of Jerusalem."
Host: "But not Gaza? Ramallah?"
Woman: "And also occupied Palestine."
Host: "Palestine is completely occupied, and we want it liberated. Say the names after me: Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Haifa, Jaffa, Bethlehem."
[Note: Jerusalem, Haifa, and Jaffa are cities in Israel. The woman was handed $100 for correct answers.]

Host: "Haifa is a Palestinian city; can you name other Palestinian cities?"
Man: "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Nazareth, Gaza, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem."
[Note: Haifa, Jaffa, Acre are cities in Israel. Other residents gave similar answers and received $100 for correct answers.]

[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 12, 2010]

Host: "I want you to name five Palestinian cities."
Woman: "Ramallah, Jerusalem, Haifa, Acre, Gaza."
Host: "I want you to name five Palestinian cities that you've visited."
Woman: "Nahariya, Acre, Jenin, Gaza."
[Note: Jerusalem, Nahariya, Haifa and Acre are cities in Israel. Other residents gave similar answers and received $100 for correct answers.]

[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 13, 2010]

Host: "Can you tell me which countries share a border with Palestine?"
Man: "In the north - Lebanon and Syria; in the east - Jordan; in the west - the Mediterranean; in the south - Egypt and the Sinai."
[Israel was not cited as a bordering country, yet it was the "correct" answer and he was awarded $100.]

Host: "Can you name four Palestinian cities?"
Woman: "Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nablus, Ramallah."
[Note: Acre, Haifa and Jaffa are cities in Israel. The woman received $100 for correct answer.]
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 16, 2010]

Host: "Which countries share borders with Palestine?"
Man: "Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt."
[Note: Israel was not cited as a bordering country yet the host rewarded him with the $100.]
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 18, 2010]

Host: "Name three Palestinian cities."
Woman 1: "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre." [Note: all are cities in Israel.]
Host: "Which countries surround Palestine?"
Woman 2: "Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt."
[Note: Israel was not cited as a bordering country. Both received $100 for "correct answers.]
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 18, 2010]

Host: "Which countries share borders with Palestine?"
Man: "Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Syria."
[Note: Israel was not cited as a bordering country yet the host rewarded him with the $100.]
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 22, 2010

On Aug. 20, six different people were asked to define five cities in Palestine.
Their answers were:
1. Acre, Jaffa, Hafia, Gaza, Ramallah
2. Gaza, Jericho, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre
3. Acre, Haifa, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Jenin
4. Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, El-Bireh, Nablus
5. Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, Jerusalem, Bethlehem,
6. Acre, Haifa, Lod, Nazareth, Ramallah
[Note: The respondents received $100 each for portraying Israeli cities Haifa, Jaffa, Lod, Nazareth, Jerusalem and Acre as Palestinian cities.]

[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 20, 2010]

Host: "Can you name five Palestinian cities?"
Woman: "Haifa, Jaffa, Acre."
[Note: Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are cities in Israel. The respondent received the $100 cash prize.]

[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 23, 2010]

Host: "Do you know which countries share borders with Palestine?"
Woman: "Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and the Mediterranean."
[Note: Israel was not cited as a bordering country yet the host rewarded her with the $100.]

Host: "Can you name three cities on the Palestinian coast?"
Woman: "Acre, Haifa, Jaffa."
[Note: All are cities on Israel's coast. In all cases, the respondents received $100 for "correctly" defining Israeli cities as Palestinian cities.]

[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 30, 2010]

Those evil settlers and their Zionist chemicals!

From the Hamas-oriented Palestine-Info (UK) site:

Zionist settlers destroyed tens of fruitful olive trees in Al-Mughir town, northeast of Ramallah, on Friday after spraying them with a chemical material.

Local sources said that the settlers spoiled 55 olive trees using a white chemical material unknown to locals, adding that the material dries the trees and slowly kills them.

They noted that farmers could not reach the area, which is adjacent to a Zionist settlement, fearing attacks by those settlers.

In another location, Zionist settlers attacked tents pitched by shepherds in the Jordan Valley and damaged drinking water ponds for cattle, witnesses reported.

They noted that the settlers infiltrated into the area under the cover of darkness on Friday night, adding that shepherds were not present at time of the attack.

So these religious settlers attacked on Friday night? And somehow damaged a water pond? (How does one do that, exactly?)

And, better yet, they sprayed an unknown chemical that slowly destroys olive trees - and the trees are already destroyed?

This steaming pile of garbage was, unsurprisingly, immediately picked up by Iran's ABNA news agency. And no doubt believed as absolute truth by the many who reflexively believe the most ridiculous anti-Israel stories without the slightest capacity for critical thought.

WSJ on Mabhouh investigation

It is worth reading the WSJ on how the trail to Mabhouh's killers has grown cold, as well as Haaretz' coverage.

Crazy Water Park re-opens

The Crazy Water Park in Gaza, which was torched last month, has re-opened.

But the lessons of the torching have not been lost on Gaza's upscale cafes and resorts.

An article in Elaph talks about Hamas' ban of women smoking hookahs in Gaza. Restaurants are enforcing that law against single women (apparently, women in restaurants with their families are allowed to smoke.) The restaurant owners are explicitly saying that they saw what happened to the Crazy Water Park, which irritated the Hamas theocrats and did allow women to smoke, and they do not want to have the same thing happen to them.

The good news, of course, is that the poor, suffering, starving, imprisoned Gazans - who are smuggling food out of Gaza to Egypt - now can relax and enjoy themselves again at a nice looking water resort.

Some notes on the staged rock throwing of Silwan

A few follow-ups on the video and photographs of the events at Silwan on Friday.

The photographs of the incident that do not show the entire context have been reproduced all over the place. I have yet to see any of the media mention that the stone-throwers smashed the rear windshield of the car with their peacful protest pebbles. In fact, from the video one can see that out of all the photographers that were there, only the videographer took footage of the car afterwards showing the damage; the rest rushed to the kid. (Most of the media showing the video do not bother to show that part of the footage either; Al Jazeera is the best example but even Fox only showed it momentarily after showing the kid being hit three different times.)

The driver was swerving to avoid a different stone-thrower. In other words, he had a car behind him and two kids in front of him; if he would have stopped he would have been in mortal danger.

The kid who was hit, Amran Mansur, recalls the incident in a way that is completely at odds with what we could see:

"I had just left the Friday prayers at the neighborhood's protest tent when I saw a car speeding towards me," remembers Amran Mansur, 11, who was ran over by David Be'eri, chairman of the Elad Association promoting Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem.

Amran was released from the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem early on Saturday. "I couldn’t run away in time, I didn't even have time to signal him with my hands," he says. "It was clear he did it on purpose. I was on the sidewalk, so there's no chance it wasn't deliberate."

Palestinian Arab kids learn how to lie to the media early. Of course, there was the earlier footage showing Mansur about to throw a stone at a different car, so he was at the scene for at least some time; he was running full-speed towards the car, not away, and he was in the middle of the street, not the sidewalk.

There were about six or seven journalists at the scene, possibly more than the number of stone throwers. It is hard to imagine that this event was not at least partially staged by them.

And while the journalists keep a "professional" distance from kids endangering the lives of Israeli motorists, they rush to help out the injured kid. Well, sort of. If he had been badly injured - say, neck or back injuries - their manhandling of him and forcing him into the car could have paralyzed him.

Someone should interview the photographers on the scene and ask them straight out: why were you so conveniently at that intersection at that time? Were the kids throwing stones because you were there? Did anyone tell them where to go or how to act? What news agencies were represented? Where is the rest of the footage between the first part and the second? How long were the boys there? How many other cars were stoned?

Even though this is a perfect example of a photograph not telling the truth, you just know that they are thinking Pulitzer and not the consequences of their actions.

UPDATE: See Media Backspin on why this looks like a set-up, from the perspective of a news photographer.

The dismantled Al Aqsa Brigades didn't get the memo

Yet again, the supposedly dismantled, Fatah-associated Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have shown up:

Fatah's armed wing the Al-Aqsa Brigades said Friday that their response to the killings of two Palestinians in Hebron was "only a matter of time."

In a statement, the Al-Aqsa Brigades cited the men as "friends" of the armed wing of Fatah, and said the two groups had participated in joint missions in the West Bank during the Second Intifada.

Where does the Al Aqsa Brigades get its funding from, if not from the "moderate" Fatah that supposedly dismantled it years ago?

Islamic Jihad leader in hospital for hunger strike against PA

An Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank was arrested on September 29th. He then started a hunger strike to protest his arrest. He claims that the PA tortured him.

He just entered a hospital because his condition was deteriorating.

This story is nearly nonexistent in the non-Arab media.